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A MANUAL 

OF 

MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE 

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OP 

LODGES AND BRETHREN UNDER THE 

JURISDICTION OF THE GRAND 

LODGE OF KENTUCKY; 



APPENDIX, 



CONTAINING VARIOUS DECISIONS ON MASONIC LAW MADE 

UPON QUESTIONS ARISING IN KENTUCKY, AND 

A NUMBER OF MASONIC FORMS FOR 

THE USE OF LODGES. 



By JOHN M. S/McCOEKLE, 

PAST GRAND HIGH PRDZST OF THE GRAND CHAPTER OF KENTUCKY, PAST 

GRAND MASTER, AND NOW GRAND SECRETARY OF THE 

GRAND LODGE OF KENTUCKY. 



"Provided always that the old landmarks are carefully preserved," — 
General Regulations of 1722. 

/ 

LOUISVILLE, KY.: ^o** 

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR. 

1867. 

V 



*' 






EXTRACT 



From the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky 1 
held in October, 1866. 

Brother Woodruff, from the committee to whom was referred the 
manuscript of a Manual of Masonic Jurisprudence, made the following 
report, which was concurred in, and the resolution accompanying it 
adopted, viz.: 

The committee to whom was referred the manuscript of a work on 
Masonic Jurisprudence by Brother J. M. S. McCorkle, the chairman of the 
committee appointed at the last communication of the Grand Lodge to 
prepare a work of that kind, have had the same under consideration, and, 
after as careful an examination as the time would permit, would most 
respectfully report that said work shows great research and care in its 
preparation and arrangement, and if published would be of incalculable 
benefit to the craft ; and as Brother McCorkle has expended much time and 
labor thereon, they think, if its publication should prove pecuniarily bene- 
ficial, he is of right entitled to the emoluments ; wherefore they offer the 
following resolution for adoption, viz. : 

Resolved, That the work entitled "A Manual of Masonic Jurispru- 
dence," prepared by our Worthy Grand Secretary, Brother J. M. S. 
McCorkle, as chairman of a special committee appointed by this Grand 
Lodge to prepare a work on Masonic Jurisprudence, be and the same is 
hereby approved by this Grand Lodge, and that he be allowed to publish 
the same for his own benefit, and that said work be recommended to the 
craft of this jurisdiction. 

P. SWIGERT, 

W. E. WOODRUFF, 

A. G. HODGES. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, 

BY JOHN M. S. McCORKXE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 

District of Kentucky. 

Stereotyped by John P. Morton <c Co. 



INTRODUCTION. 



It is not surprising, when we consider that the 
Masonic Fraternity is composed of persons en- 
gaged in the cares and business of active life, 
and therefore not able to devote much time to 
the study of abstruse subjects, that much igno- 
rance exists in regard to Masonic Jurisprudence. 
So great have been the numbers that have at- 
tached themselves to the fraternity within a few 
years past, so little time has been devoted by them 
to explore the sources of Masonic light, the rules, 
regulations, and ancient customs that are the 
foundations of Masonic law, that, until within a 
comparatively short period, it has been generally 
regarded as requiring more study and research 
than ordinary subjects. 

Add to this the fact, that in too many Lodges 
the custom prevails of making frequent changes 
in the officers governing such bodies, so that it 
happens in many instances that just when the 
Master has acquired some experience in the du- 
ties of his office, and is becoming competent to 
govern his Lodge in a proper manner, he is dis- 
placed, and a new and perhaps another inexperi- 
enced one elected. He, in his turn, is also dis- 
placed just as he is becoming fit to exercise the 
great powers committed to him, giving way in 
like manner to another more inexperienced than 
himself. Hence but little progress is made in 
the study of the jurisprudence of Masonry in such 
Lodges. 

(3) 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

It is our decided opinion, based on long expe- 
rience, that when a Lodge has secured a fit and 
competent Master, as a general rule, he should be 
retained in office as long as he is willing to serve 
in that capacity. The same remark applies to the 
Secretary of the Lodge. These two officers are 
really the most important in a Lodge, and ought 
not to be changed for light and trivial reasons. 

All these causes have contributed to the gen- 
eral ignorance that so extensively prevails, not 
only in this, but in other jurisdictions, in regard 
to Masonic Jurisprudence. 

As each Grand Lodge is supreme within its own 
jurisdiction, and has the right to prescribe to her 
subordinates the regulations by which their work 
is carried on, not infringing on the ancient land- 
marks, there will of course be some difference in 
the local policy of Lodges under different juris- 
dictions ; but on the grand questions of jurispru- 
dence there will scarcely be found any material 
variation. 

In this short treatise it will be our object to 
present the principles of Masonic Jurisprudence, 
in accordance with the rulings of the Grand Lodge 
of Kentucky, in such form as will enable the craft 
in this state to decide the multifarious questions 
that arise in the workings of the subordinate 
Lodges without difficulty, thereby producing more 
uniformity in their decisions, and at the same time 
lightening as well the duties of the Masters of 
Lodges, as of the Grand Master, and the Grand 
Lodge itself ultimately. 

We cheerfully acknowledge our indebtedness 
to the various works heretofore published on this 
subject, especially to those of Brothers Mackey, 
of South Carolina, and Simons, of JSTew York. 



A MANUAL 



MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW, 

Law, in its general sense, has been happily de- 
scribed by an eminent jurist as a rule of action. 
Masonic law may therefore be laid down as a rule 
of action for those who are Masons, whereby is 
prescribed what is right and fit to be done by 
them as such, at the same time prohibiting what 
is contrary to the ancient constitutions, rules, and 
regulations of the fraternity. 

The sources of Masonic law are : 

1. The unwritten law, or the ancient land- 
marks of Masonry, including ancient usages and 
customs. 

2. The written law, or constitutions and gen- 
eral regulations, which also includes 

3. Eules, edicts, and resolutions, having the 
force of general regulations. 

The ancient landmarks are those principles of 
Masonic government that may never be altered or 
infringed, and are binding upon the whole Masonic 

(5) 



6 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

fraternity wherever dispersed. They have been 
recognized as binding on the craft from the time 
" whereof the memory of man runneth not to the 
contrary," and are unchangeable. 

Constitutions and general regulations are those 
written agreements or laws adopted by Masons 
for the government of a Grand Lodge, its subor- 
dinate Lodges, and members ; and, when constitu- 
tionally adopted, are intended to be permanent in 
their character. 

Eules, edicts, and resolutions are those rules of 
action, adopted by competent authority, princi- 
pally for local or temporary purposes, admitting 
of changes at the convenience of the party enact- 
ing them. 

The last two classes, however, are subject to this 
condition, as is well expressed by the language 
used in the General Eegulations adopted by the 
Grand Lodge of England in 1721 : " Provided, al- 
ways, that the old landmarks be carefully pre- 
served." Some diversity of opinion exists as to 
what these landmarks are. After having exam- 
ined the best writers on this subject, and compared 
their opinions with great care, we lay down the 
following, mainly following the text of E. W. John 
"W. Simons, Past Grand Master of New York. 

ANCIENT LANDMARKS. 

1. A belief in the existence of a Supreme Being, 
the Grand Architect of the Universe, and in the 
immortality of the soul. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 7 

2. That the moral law, which inculcates, among 
other things, charity, probity, industry, and so- 
briety, is the rule and guide of every Mason. 

3. Respect for and obedience to the civil law of 
the country, and the Masonic regulations of the 
jurisdiction, where a Mason may reside. 

4. That no person should be made a Mason ex- 
cept he be a free-born white man, of lawful age, 
and possess no deformity which would prevent 
him from being perfectly instructed in the mys- 
teries of Freemasonry, and in his turn instructing 
others. 

5. The modes of recognition, and generally the 
rites and ceremonies of the three degrees of An- 
cient Craft Masonry. 

6. That the Master of a Lodge, or the Warden 
occupying the chair in his absence, is supreme in 
his Lodge, and no appeal can be taken to the 
Lodge from his decision ; but an appeal therefrom 
may be taken to the Grand Lodge to which the 
Master or presiding Warden is amenable for the 
manner in which he discharges the duties of his 
office. 

7. That no one can be Master of a chartered 
Lodge until he has been installed and served one 
year as Warden, unless in some extraordinary 
case, as when a new Lodge is to be formed, and 
no past or former Warden is to be found among 
the members. 

6. That when a man becomes a Mason he not 
only acquires membership in the particular Lodge 



8 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

that admits him, but, in a general sense, lie be- 
comes one of the whole Masonic family; and hence 
he has a right to visit, masonieally, every regular 
Lodge, except when such visit is likely to disturb 
the harmony or interrupt the working of the 
Lodge he proposes to visit. 

9. The prerogative of the Grand Master to pre- 
side over every assembly of the craft within his 
jurisdiction, and to grant dispensations for the 
formation of new Lodges. 

10. That no one can be made a Mason save in a 
regular Lodge, duly convened, after petition, in- 
quiry into his character, and acceptance by unani- 
mous ballot. 

11. That the ballot for candidates be strictly 
and inviolably secret. 

12. That a Lodge can not try its Master, who 
is only amenable to the Grand Lodge. 

13. That every Mason is amenable to the laws 
and regulations of the jurisdiction in which he re- 
sides, even though he be a member of a particular 
Lodge in some other jurisdiction, and that from 
this liability he is not exempt by non-affiliation. 

14. The right of the craft at large, embodied in 
subordinate Lodges, to be represented in Grand 
Lodge, and to instruct their representatives. 

15. The general aim and form of the society, as 
handed down to us by the fathers, to be by us pre- 
served inviolate, and transmitted in the same way 
to our successors forever. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 9 

Other sources of Masonic law are the ancient, 
by some called the Gothic, constitutions. None 
of these, however, are now extant. A manuscript 
poem still exists in the old Eoyal Library of the 
British Museum, London, where it was discovered 
by Mr. Halliwell, who published it in 1844. It is 
supposed to have been written about the year 
1350, and has been twice republished in this coun- 
try. Dr. Oliver, of England, has no doubt that it 
contains the original constitutions as adopted in 
926 by the General Assembly convened by Prince 
Edwin, at York, under the authority of King 
Athelstan. We insert here a condensation, in mod- 
ern language, of the various articles and points, as 
made by Dr. Oliver, which was published in the 
American Quarterly Eeview of Free Masonry, vol. 
i, p. 546. 

THE FIFTEEN ARTICLES. 

Art. 1. The Master must be steadfast, trusty, 
and true ; provide victuals for his men, and pay 
their wages punctually. 

Art. 2. Every Master shall attend the Grand 
Lodge when duly summoned, unless he have a 
good and reasonable excuse. 

Art. 3. No Master shall take an Apprentice for 
less than seven years. 

Art. 4. The son of a bondman shall not be ad- 
mitted as an Apprentice, lest, when he is intro- 
duced into the Lodge, any of the brethren should 
be offended. 



10 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

Art. 5. A candidate must be without blemish, 
and have the full and proper use of his limbs ; for 
a maimed man can do the craft no good. 

Art. 6. The Master shall take especial care, in 
the admission of an Apprentice, that he do his lord 
no prejudice. 

Art. 7. He shall harbor no thief or thief's re- 
tainer, lest the craft should come to shame. 

Art. 8. If he unknowingly employ an imperfect 
man, he shall discharge him from the work when 
his inability is discovered. 

Art. 9. No Master shall undertake a work that 
he is not able to finish to his lord's profit and the 
credit of his Lodge. 

Art. 10. A brother shall not supplant his fellow 
in the work, unless he be incapable of doing it 
himself; for then he may lawfully finish it, that 
pleasure and profit may be the natural result. 

Art. 11. A Mason shall not be obliged to work 
after the sun has set in the west. 

Art. 12. ISTor shall he decry the work of a 
brother or fellow, but shall deal honestly and 
truly by him, under a penalty of not less than ten 
pounds. 

Art. 13. The Master shall instruct his Appren- 
tice faithfully, and make him a perfect workman. 

Art. 14. He shall teach him all the secrets of his 
trade. 

Art. 15. And shall guard him against the com- 
mission of perjury, and all other offenses by which 
the craft may be brought to shame. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 11 

PLURES CONSTITUTIONS. 

Point 1. Every Mason shall cultivate brother- 
ly love and the love of God, and frequent holy 
church. 

Point 2. The workman shall labor diligently on 
work-days, that he may deserve his holidays. 

Point 3. Every Apprentice shall keep his Mas- 
ter's counsel, and not betray the secrets of his 
Lodge. 

Point 4. No man shall be false to the craft, or 
entertain a prejudice against his Master and fel- 
lows. 

Point 5. Every workman shall receive his wages 
meekly and without scruple; and should the Mas- 
ter think proper to dismiss him from the work, he 
shall have due notice of the same before H.xii. 

Point 6. If any dispute arise among the breth- 
ren, it shall be settled on a holiday, that the work 
be not neglected and God's law fulfilled. 

Point 7. ISTo Mason shall debauch, or have car- 
nal knowledge of the wife, daughter, or concubine 
of his Master or fellows. 

Point 8. He shall be true to his Master, and a 
just mediator in all disputes or quarrels. 

Point 9. The Steward shall provide good cheer 
against the hour of refreshment, and each fellow 
shall punctually defray his share of the reckoning, 
the Steward rendering a true and correct account. 

Point 10. If a Mason live amiss, or slander his 
brother, so as to bring the craft to shame, he shall 



12 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

have no further maintenance among the brethren, 
but shall be summoned to the next Grand Lodge : 
and if he refuse to appear he shall be expelled. 

Point 11. If a brother see his fellow hewing a 
stone, and likely to spoil it by unskillful work- 
manship, he shall teach him to amend it, with fair 
words and brotherly speeches. 

Point 12. The General Assembly or Grand 
Lodge shall consist of the Master and Fellows, 
Lords, Knights and Squires, Mayor and Sheriff, 
to make new laws and to confirm old ones when 
necessary. 

Point 13. Every brother shall swear fealty, and 
if he violate his oath, he shall not be succored or 
assisted by any of the fraternity. 

Point 14. He shall make oath to keep secrets, 
to be steadfast and true to all the ordinances of 
the Grand Lodge, to the King and Holy Church, 
and to all the several points herein specified. 

Point 15. And if any brother break his oath, he 
shall be committed to prison, and forfeit his goods 
and chattels to the king. 

ALIA ORDINACIO ARTIS GEOMETRIE. 

A General Assembly shall be held every year, 
with the Grand Master at its head to enforce these 
regulations, and to make new laws when it may 
be expedient to do so, at which all the brethren 
are competent to be present ; and they must renew 
their 0. B. to keep these statutes and constitu- 
tions, which have been ordained by King Athel- 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 13 

stan, and adopted by the Grand Lodge at York; 
and this Assembly further directs that, in all ages 
to come, the existing Grand Lodge shall petition 
the reigning monarch to confer his sanction on 
their proceedings. 

Various other regulations are published as the 
sources from which Dr. Anderson drew up those 
of 1722 ; but, as we wish to be as concise as possi- 
ble in this publication, we omit them as being 
principally matter of curious learning. Dr. An- 
derson's charges were presented by him and Dr. 
Desaguilers to the Grand Lodge of England in 
1721 ; and, having been approved on the 25th of 
March, 1722, were ordered to be published. They 
have always been held by the fraternity in the 
highest veneration, and, with the General Eegula- 
tions adopted in 1721, present the most important 
points of the ancient written law of Masonry. 
We here insert them. 

THE CHARGES OF A FREEMASON, 

Extracted from the Ancient Records of Lodges beyond the sea, and of 
those in England, Scotland, and Ireland, for the use of the Lodges 
in London, to be read at the making of New Brethren, or ivhen the 
Master shall order it. 

The general heads, viz.: 
I. Of God and Eeligion. 
II. Of the Civil Magistrate, supreme and sub- 
ordinate. 
III. Of Lodges. 

IY. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Appren- 
tices. 



14 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

V. Of the Management of the Craft in working. 
VI. Of Behavior, viz.: 

1. In the Lodge while constituted; 

2. After the Lodge is over and the breth- 
ren not gone ; 

3. When brethren meet without stran- 
gers, but not in a Lodge ; 

4. In presence of strangers not Masons ; 

5. At home and in the neighborhood ; 

6. Toward a strange brother. 

I. Concerning God and 'Religion. 
A Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the 
moral law ; and, if he rightly understand the art, 
he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious 
libertine. But though in ancient times Masons 
were charged in every country to be of the re- 
ligion of that country or nation, whatever it was, 
yet it is now thought more expedient only to 
oblige them to that religion in which all men 
agree, leaving their particular opinions to them- 
selves ; that is, to be good men and true, or men 
of honor and honesty, by whatever denomina- 
tions or persuasions they may be distinguished; 
whereby Masonry becomes the center of union, 
and the means of conciliating true friendship 
among persons that must have remained at a 
perpetual distance. 

II. Of the Civil Magistrate, supreme and subordinate. 
A Mason is a peaceable subject to the civil pow- 
ers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 15 

be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the 
peace and welfare of the nation, nor to behave- 
himself undutifully to inferior magistrates ; for as 
Masonry hath been always injured by war, blood- 
shed, and confusion, so ancient kings and princes 
have been much disposed to encourage the crafts- 
men because of their peaceableness and loyalty, 
whereby they practically answered the cavils of 
their adversaries, and promoted the honor of the 
fraternity, who ever flourished in times of peace. 
So that if a brother should be a rebel against the 
state, he is not to be countenanced in his rebellion, 
however he may be pitied as an unhappy man; 
and, if convicted of no other crime, though the 
loyal brotherhood must and ought to disown his 
rebellion, and give no umbrage or ground of politi- 
cal jealousy to the government for the time being, 
they can not expel him from the Lodge, and his 
relation to it remains indefeasible. 

III. Of Lodges. 

A Lodge is a place where Masons assemble and 
work; hence that assembly or duly organized 
society of Masons is called a Lodge, and every 
brother ought to belong to one, and to be subject 
to its by-laws and the general regulations. It is 
either particular or general, and will be best un- 
derstood by attending it, and by the regulations 
of the General or Grand Lodge hereunto annexed. 
In ancient times no Master or Fellow could be ab- 
sent from it, especially when warned to appear at 



16 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

it, without incurring a severe censure, until it 
appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure 
necessity hindered him. 

The persons admitted members of a Lodge must 
be good and true men, free-born, and of mature 
and discreet age, no bondmen, no women, no im- 
moral or scandalous men, but of good report. 

IY. Of Master •<§, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices. 

All preferment among Masons is grounded upon 
real worth and personal merit only; that so the 
lords may be well served, the brethren not put to 
shame, nor the Eoyal Craft despised. Therefore 
no Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but 
for his merit. It is impossible to describe these 
things in writing, and every brother must attend 
in his place, and learn them in a way peculiar to 
this fraternity: only candidates may know that 
no master should take an apprentice unless he be 
a perfect youth, having no maim or defect in his 
body, that may render him incapable of learning 
the art of serving his Master's lord, and of being 
a brother, and then a Fellow-craft in due time, 
even after he has served such a term of years as 
the custom of the country directs; and that he 
should be descended of honest parents; that so, 
when otherwise qualified, he may arrive to the 
honor of being the Warden, and then the Master 
of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at length 
the Grand Master of all the Lodges, according to 
his merit. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 17 

No brother can be a "Warden until be has 
passed the part of a Fellow-craft; nor a Master 
until he has acted as a Warden; nor Grand War- 
den until he has been Master of a Lodge; nor 
Grand Master unless he has been a Fellow-craft 
before his election ; who is also to be nobly born, 
or a gentleman of the best fashion, or some emi- 
nent scholar, or some curious architect, or other 
artist, descended of honest parents, and who is of 
singular great merit in the opinion of the Lodges. 
And, for the better and easier and more honorable 
discharge of his office, the Grand Master has a 
power to choose his own Deputy Grand Master, 
who must be then, or must have been formerly, 
the Master of a particular Lodge, and has the 
privilege of acting whatever the Grand Master, 
his principal, should act, unless the said principal 
be present, or interpose his authority by a letter. 

These rulers and governors, supreme and subor- 
dinate, of the ancient Lodge, are to be obeyed in 
their respective stations by all the brethren, ac- 
cording to the old charges and regulations, with 
all humility, reverence, love, and alacrity. 

V. Of the Management of the Craft in Working. 

All Masons shall work honestly on working- 
days, that they may live creditably on holy-days ; 
and the time appointed by the law of the land, or 
confirmed by custom, shall be observed. 

The most expert of the Fellow-craftsmen shall 
be chosen or appointed the Master, or overseer of 
2 



18 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

the lord's work; who is to be called Master by 
those that work under him. The craftsmen are 
to avoid all ill language, and to call each other by 
no disobliging name, but brother or fellow; and 
to behave themselves courteously within and with- 
out the Lodge. 

The Master, knowing himself to be able of cun- 
ning, shall undertake the lord's work as reasonably 
as possible, and truly dispend his goods as if they 
were his own; nor to give more wages to any 
brother or apprentice than he really may de- 
serve. 

Both the Master and the Masons receiving their 
wages justly shall be faithful to the lord, and 
honestly finish their work, whether task or jour- 
ney; nor put the work to task that hath been 
accustomed to journey. 

None shall discover envy at the prosperity of a 
brother, nor supplant him, or put him out of his 
work, if he be capable to finish the same ; for no 
man can finish another's work so much to the 
lord's profit, unless he be thoroughly acquainted 
with the designs and draughts of him that began it. 

When a Fellow-craftsman is chosen Warden of 
the work under the Master, he shall be true both 
to Master and fellows; shall carefully oversee the 
work in the master's absence, to the lord's profit; 
and his brethren shall obey him. 

All Masons employed shall meekly receive their 
wages, without murmuring or mutiny, and not 
desert the Master till the work is finished. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 19 

A younger brother shall be instructed in work- 
ing, to prevent spoiling the materials for want of 
judgment, and for increasing and continuing of 
brotherly love. 

All the tools used in working shall be approved 
by the Grand Lodge. 

Xo laborer shall be employed in the proper work 
of Masonry j nor shall Freemasons work with 
those that are not free without an urgent neces- 
sity; nor shall they teach laborers and unaccepted 
Masons as they should teach a brother or fellow. 

VI. Of Behavior. 
1. In the Lodge while constituted. 

You are not to hold private committees, or sep- 
arate conversation, without leave from the Master, 
nor to talk of any thing impertinent or unseemly; 
nor interrupt the Master or Wardens, or any 
brother speaking to the Master; nor behave your- 
self ludicrously or jestingly while the Lodge is 
engaged in what is serious and solemn; nor use 
any unbecoming language upon any pretense what- 
soever; but to pay due reverence to your Master, 
"Wardens, and fellows, and put them to worship. 

If any complaint be brought, the brother found 
guilty shall stand to the award and determination 
of the Lodge, who are the proper and competent 
judges of all such controversies (unless you carry 
it by appeal to the Grand Lodge), and to whom 
they ought to be referred, unless a lord's work be 
hindered the meanwhile, in which case a particu- 



20 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

lar reference may be made; but you must never 
go to law about what concerneth Masonry, with- 
out an absolute necessity apparent to the Lodge. 

2. Behavior after the Lodge is over, and the Breth- 
ren NOT GONE. 

You may enjoy yourselves with innocent mirth, 
treating one another according to ability, but 
avoiding all excess, or forcing any brother to eat 
or drink beyond his inclination, or hindering him 
from going when his occasions call him, or doing 
or saying any thing offensive, or that may forbid 
an easy and free conversation; for that would 
blast our harmony and defeat our laudable pur- 
poses. Therefore, no private piques or quarrels 
must be brought within the door of the Lodge; 
far less any quarrels about religion, or nations, or 
state policy, we being only, as Masons, of the cath- 
olic religion above mentioned. We are also of all 
nations, tongues, kindreds, and languages, and 
are resolved against all politics, as what never yet 
conduced to the welfare of the Lodge, nor ever 
will. This charge has been always strictly en- 
joined and observed, but especially ever since the 
Reformation in Britain, or the dissent and seces- 
sion of these nations from the communion of 
Eome. 

3. Behavior when Brethren meet without strangers, 
but not in a Lodge formed. 

You are to salute one another in a courteous 
manner, as you will be instructed, calling each 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 21 

other brother ; freely giving mutual instruction as 
shall be thought expedient, without being over- 
seen or overheard, and without encroaching upon 
each other, or derogating from that respect which 
is due to any brother, were he not a Mason; for 
though all Masons are as brethren upon the same 
level, yet Masonry takes no honor from a man 
that he had before; nay, rather, it adds to his 
honor, especially if he has deserved well of the 
brotherhood ; who must give honor to whom it is 
due, and avoid ill manners. 

4. Behavior in Presence of Strangers not Masons. 
You shall be cautious in your words and car- 
riage, that the most penetrating stranger shall 
not be able to discover or find out what is not 
proper to be intimated ; and sometimes you shall 
divert a discourse, and manage it prudently for 
the honor of the worshipful fraternity. 

5. Behavior at Home and in your Neighborhood. 
You are to act as becomes a moral and wise 
man ; particularly, not to let your family, friends, 
and neighbors know the concerns of the Lodge ; 
but wisely to consult your own honor and that of 
the ancient brotherhood, for reasons not to be 
mentioned here. You must also consult your 
health by not continuing together too late, or too 
long from home, after Lodge hours are past; and 
by avoiding of gluttony or drunkenness, that your 
families be not neglected or injured, nor you dis- 
abled from working. 



22 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

6. Behavior toward a Strange Brother. 

You are cautiously to examine him, in such a 
method as prudence shall direct you, that you 
may not be imposed upon by an ignorant, false 
pretender, whom you are to reject with contempt 
and derision, and beware of giving him any hints 
of knowledge. 

But if you discover him to be a true and gen- 
uine brother, you are to respect him accordingly; 
and, if he is in want, you must relieve him if you 
can, or else direct him how he may be relieved. 
You must employ him some days, or else recom- 
mend him to be employed. But you are not 
charged to do beyond your ability — only to pre- 
fer a poor brother, that is a good man and true, 
before any other poor people in the same circum- 
stance. 

Finally, all these charges you are to observe, 
and also those that shall be communicated to you 
in another way; cultivating brother-love, the 
foundation and cape-stone, the cement and glory 
of this ancient fraternity, avoiding* all wrangling 
and quarreling, all slander and backbiting, nor 
permitting others to slander any honest brother, 
but defending his character, and doing him all 
good offices, as far as is consistent with your 
honor and safety, and no further. And if any of 
them do you injury, you must apply to your own 
or his Lodge; and from thence you may appeal to 
the Grand Lodge at the quarterly communication, 
and from thence to the annual Grand Lodge, as 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 23 

has been the ancient laudable conduct of our fore- 
fathers in every nation; never taking a legal 
course but when the case can not be otherwise 
decided, and patiently listening to the honest and 
friendly advice of Master and fellows when they 
would prevent your going to law with strangers, 
or would excite you to put a speedy period to all 
law-suits, that so you may mind the affair of Ma- 
sonry with the more alacrity and success; but, 
with respect to brothers or fellows at law, the 
Master and brethren should kindly offer their 
mediation, which ought to be thankfully submit- 
ted to by the contending brethren; and, if that 
submission is impracticable, they must, however, 
carry on their process or law-suit without wrath 
and rancor (not in the common way), saying or 
doing nothing which may hinder brotherly love 
and good offices to be renewed and continued; 
that all may see the benign influence of Masonry, 
as all true Masons have done from the beginning 
of the world, and will do to the end of time. 
Amen, so mote it be. 

The general regulations adopted by the Grand 
Lodge of England, in 1721, are here presented, 
with the notes of Brother A. G. Mackey thereon, 
elucidating various changes that have been made 
since their adoption: 

General Eegulations, first compiled by Mr. 
George Payne, anno 1720, w T hen he was Grand 
Master, and approved by the Grand Lodge on St. 



24 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

John Baptist's day, anno 1721, at Stationer's Hall, 
London, when the Most Noble Prince John, Duke 
of Montagu, was unanimously chosen our Grand 
Master for the year ensuing; who chose John 
Beal, M. D., his Deputy Grand Master; and Mr. 
Josiah Yilleneau and Mr. Thomas Morris, junior, 
were chosen by the Lodge Grand Wardens. And 
now, by the command of our said Eight Worship- 
ful Grand Master Montagu, the author of this 
book has compared them with, and reduced them 
to, the ancient records and immemorial usages of 
the fraternity, and digested them into this new 
method, with several proper explications, for the 
use of the Lodges in and about London and West- 
minster. 

I, The Grand Master or his deputy hath au- 
thority and right not only to be present in any 
true Lodge, but also to preside wherever he is, 
with the Master of the Lodge on his left hand; 
and to order his Grand Wardens to attend him, 
who are not to act in any particular Lodges as 
Wardens, but in his presence and at his command; 
because there the Grand Master may command 
the Wardens of that Lodge, or any other brethren 
he pleaseth, to attend and act as his Wardens pro 
tempore.* 

*That is, says the new regulation, only when the Grand 
Wardens are absent ; for the Grand Master can not deprive 
them of their office without showing cause. Such, by uni- 
versal consent, has been the subsequent interpretation of this 
regulation. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 25 

II. The Master of a particular Lodge has the 
right and authority of congregating the members 
of his Lodge into a Chapter, at pleasure, upon any- 
emergency or occurrence, as well as to appoint the 
time and place of their usual forming; and, in 
case of sickness, death, or necessary absence of 
the Master, the Senior Warden shall act as Master 
pro tempore, ff no brother is present who has been 
Master of that Lodge before; for, in that case, 
the absent Master's authority reverts to the last 
Master then present, though he can not act until 
the said Senior Warden has once congregated the 
Lodge, or, in his absence, the Junior Warden.* 

III. The Master of each particular Lodge, or 
one of the Wardens, or some other brother, by his 
order, shall keep a book containing their by-laws, 
the names of their members, with a list of all the 
Lodges in town, and the usual times and places 
of their forming, and all their transactions that 
are proper to be written. 

IV. ISTo Lodge shall make more than five new 
brethren at one time, nor any man under the age 
of twenty-five, who must be also his own master, 
unless by a dispensation from the Grand Master 
or his Deputy. 

V. No man can be made or admitted a member 

* There is a palpable contradiction in the terms of this 
regulation, which caused a new regulation to he adopted in 
1723, which declares that the authority of the Master shall, 
in such cases, devolve on the Senior Warden; and such is 
now the general sense of the fraternity. 
3 



26 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

of a particular Lodge, without previous notice one 
month before given to the said Lodge, in order to 
make due inquiry into the reputation and capacity 
of the candidate, unless by the dispensation afore- 
said. 

VI. But no man can be entered a brother in 
any particular Lodge, or admitted to be a member 
thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the 
members of that Lodge* then present when the 
candidate is proposed, and their consent is for- 
mally asked by the Master; and they are to 
signify their consent or dissent in their own pru- 
dent way, either virtually or in form, but with 
unanimity; nor is this inherent privilege subject 
to a dispensation, because ihe members of a par- 
ticular Lodge are the best judges of it; and, if a 
fractious member should be imposed on them, it 
might spoil their harmony, or hinder their free- 
dom, or even break and disperse the Lodge, which 
ought to be avoided by all good and true brethren. 

VII. Every new brother, at his making, is de- 
cently to clothe the Lodge — that is, all the breth- 
ren present — and to deposit something for the 
relief of indigent and decayed brethren, as the 
candidate shall think fit to bestow, over and 
above the small allowance stated by the by-laws 
of that particular Lodge; which charity shall be 

* A subsequent regulation allowed the Lodges to admit a 
member, if not above three ballots were against him ; but 
in this country this has never been considered as good law, 
and the rule of unanimity has been very strictly enforced. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 27 

lodged with the Master or Wardens, or the cashier, 
if the members think fit to choose one. 

And the candidate shall also solemnly promise 
to submit to the constitutions, the charges and 
regulations, and to such other good usages as shall 
be intimated to them in time and place conve- 
nient. 

VIII. No set or number of brethren shall with- 
draw or separate themselves from the Lodge in 
which they were made brethren, or were after- 
ward admitted members, unless the Lodge be- 
comes too numerous; nor even then, without 
a dispensation from the Grand Master or his 
Deputy; and, when they are thus separated, they 
must either immediately join themselves to such 
other Lodge as they shall like best, with the 
unanimous consent of that other Lodge to which 
they go (as above regulated;) or else they must 
obtain the Grand Master's warrant to join in 
forming a new Lodge. If any set or number 
of Masons shall take upon themselves to form a 
Lodge without the Grand Master's warrant, the 
regular Lodges are not to countenance them, nor 
own them as fair brethren and duly formed, nor 
approve of their acts and deeds; but must treat 
them as rebels, until they humble themselves as 
the Grand Master shall in his prudence direct, and 
until he approve of them by his warrant, which 
must be signified to the other Lodges, as the cus- 
tom is when a new Lodge is to be registered in 
the list of Lodges. 



28 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

IX. But if any brother so far misbehave him- 
self as to render his Lodge uneasy, he shall be 
twice duly admonished by the Master or Wardens 
in a formed Lodge ; and if he will not refrain his 
imprudence, and obediently submit to the advice 
of the brethren, and reform what gives them 
offense, he shall be dealt with according to the 
by-laws of that particular Lodge, or else in such 
a manner as the quarterly communication shall in 
their great prudence think fit; for which a new 
regulation may be afterward made. 

X. The majority of every particular Lodge, 
when congregated, shall have the privilege of 
giving instruction to their Master and Wardens 
before the assembling of the Grand Chapter or 
Lodge, at the three quarterly communications 
hereafter mentioned, and of the annual Grand 
Lodge, too; because their Master and Wardens 
are their representatives, and are supposed to 
speak their mind. 

XL All particular Lodges are to observe the 
same usages as much as possible; in order to 
which, and for cultivating a good understanding 
among Freemasons, some members out of every 
Lodge shall be deputed to visit the other Lodges 
as often as shall be thought convenient. 

XII. The Grand Lodge consists of and is 
formed by the Masters and Wardens of all the 
regular particular Lodges upon record, with the 
Grand Master at their head, and his Deputy on 
his left hand, and the Grand Wardens in their 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 29 

proper places; and must have a quarterly commu- 
nication about Michaelmas, Christmas, and Lady- 
day, in some convenient place, as the Grand 
Master shall appoint, where no brother shall be 
present who is not at that time a member thereof 
without a dispensation; and, while he stays, he 
shall not be allowed to vote, nor even give his 
opinion, without leave of the Grand Lodge asked 
and given, or unless it be duly asked by the said 
Lodge. 

All matters are to be determined in the Grand 
Lodge by a majority of votes, each member hav- 
ing one vote, and the Grand Master having two 
votes, unless the said Lodge leave any particular 
thing to the determination of the Grand Master 
for the sake of expedition. 

XIII. At the said quarterly communication, all 
matters that concern the fraternity in general, or 
particular Lodges, or single brethren, are quietly, 
sedately, and maturely to be discoursed of and 
transacted. Apprentices must be admitted Mas- 
ters and Fellow-crafts only here,* unless by a 
dispensation. Here also all differences that can 

*This is an important regulation, the subsequent altera- 
tion of which, by universal consent, renders many of the 
old regulations inapplicable to the present condition of 
Masonry: for, whereas formerly Entered Apprentices con- 
stituted the general body of the craft, now it is composed 
altogether of Master Masons; hence many regulations, for- 
merly applicable to Apprentices, can now only be inter- 
preted as referring to Master Masons. 



30 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

not be made up and accommodated privately, nor 
by a particular Lodge, are to be seriously consid- 
ered and decided; and if any brother thinks 
himself aggrieved by the decision of this Board, 
he may appeal to the annual Grand Lodge next 
ensuing, and leave his appeal, in writing, with the 
Grand Master, or his Deputy, or the Grand War- 
dens. Here also the Master or the Wardens of 
each particular Lodge shall bring and produce a 
list of such members as have been made, or even 
admitted in their particular Lodges since the last 
communication of the Grand Lodge; and there 
shall be a book kept by the Grand Master, or his 
Deputy, or rather by some brother whom the 
Grand Lodge shall appoint for Secretary, wherein 
shall be recorded all the Lodges, with their usual 
times and places of forming, and the names of 
all the members of each Lodge ; and all the af- 
fairs of the Grand Lodge that are proper to be 
written. 

They shall also consider of the most prudent 
and effectual methods of collecting and disposing 
of what money shall be given to or lodged with 
them in charity, toward the relief only of any 
true brother fallen into poverty or decay, but of 
none else; but every particular Lodge shall dis- 
pose of their own charity for poor brethren, 
according to their own by-laws, until it be agreed 
by all the Lodges (in a new regulation) to carry 
in the charity collected by them to the Grand 
Lodge, at the quarterly or annual communication, 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 31 

in order to make a common stock of it, for the 
more handsome relief of poor brethren. 

They shall also appoint a Treasurer, a brother 
of good worldly substance, who shall be a mem- 
ber of the Grand Lodge by virtue of his office, 
and shall be always present, and have power to 
move to the Grand Lodge any thing, especially 
what concerns his office. To him shall be com- 
mitted all money raised for charity, or for any 
other use of the Grand Lodge, which he shall 
write down in a book, with the respective ends 
and uses for which the several sums are intended; 
and shall expend or disburse the same by such a 
certain order, signed, as the Grand Lodge shall 
afterward agree to in a new regulation; but he 
shall not vote in choosing a Grand Master or 
Wardens, though in every other transaction — as, 
in like manner, the Secretary shall be a member 
of the Grand Lodge by virtue of his office, and 
vote in every thing except in choosing a Grand 
Master or Wardens. 

The Treasurer and Secretary shall have each a 
clerk, who must be a brother and Fellow-craft,* 
but never must be a member of the Grand Lodge, 
nor speak without being allowed or desired. 

The Grand Master or his Deputy shall always 
command the Treasurer and Secretary, with their 
clerks and books, in order to see how matters go 

* Of course, in consequence of the change made in the 
character of the body of the fraternity, alluded to in the last 
note, these officers must now be Master Masons. 



32 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

on, and to know what is expedient to be done 
upon any emergent occasion. 

Another brother (who must be a Fellow- 
craft) * should be appointed to look after the door 
of the Grand Lodge; but shall be no member of 
it. But these offices may be further explained by 
a new regulation, when the necessity and expedi- 
ency of them may more appear than at present to 
the fraternity. 

XIV. If, at any Grand Lodge, stated or occa- 
sional, quarterly or annual, the Grand Master and 
his Deputy should be both absent, then the pres- 
ent Master of a Lodge, that has been the longest 
a Freemason, shall take the chair, and preside as 
Grand Master pro tempore; f and shall be vested 
with all his power and honor for the time; pro- 
vided there is no brother present that has been 
Grand Master formerly, or Deputy Grand Master; 
for the last Grand Master present, or else the last 
Deputy present, should always of right take place 

* See note, p. 31. 

f In the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, 
printed in 1738, at page 162, this regulation is thus ex- 
plained: "In the first edition, the right of the Grand "War- 
dens was omitted in this regulation ; and it has been since 
found that the old Lodges never put into the chair the Mas- 
ter of a particular Lodge, but when there was no Grand 
"Warden in company, present nor former, and that, in such 
a case, a Grand officer always took place of any Master of a 
Lodge that has not been a Grand officer." This, it may be 
observed, is the present usage. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 33 

in the absence of the present Grand Master and 
his Deputy. 

XV. In the Grand Lodge none can act as 
Wardens but the Grand Wardens themselves, if 
present; and, if absent, the Grand Master, or the 
person who presides in his place, shall order pri- 
vate Wardens to act as Grand Wardens pro tem- 
pore;* whose places are to be supplied by two 
Fellow-crafts of the same Lodge, called forth to 
act, or sent thither by the particular Master 
thereof; or if by him omitted, then they shall be 
called by the Grand Master, that so the Grand 
Lodge may be always complete. 

XVI. The Grand Wardens, or any others, are 
first to advise with the Deputy about the affairs 
of the Lodge, or of the brethren, and not to apply 
to the Grand Master without the knowledge of 
the Deputy, unless he refuse his concurrence in 
any certain necessary affair; in which case, or in 
case of any difference between the Deputy and 
the Grand Wardens, or other brethren, both par- 
ties are to go by concert to the Grand Master, 
who can easily decide the controversy, and make 
up the difference by virtue of his great authority. 

The Grand Master should receive no intimation 
of business concerning Masonry but from his 

*"It was always the ancient usage," says Anderson, " that 
the oldest former Grand Wardens supplied the places of 
those of the year when absent." — Const., 2 ed., p. 162. Ac- 
cordingly, the 15th regulation never was observed. 



34 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

Deputy first, except in such certain cases as his 
Worship can well judge of; for, if the application 
to the Grand Master be irregular, he can easily 
order the Grand "Wardens, or any other brethren 
thus applying, to wait upon his Deputy, who is to 
prepare the business speedily, and to lay it orderly 
before his Worship. 

XVII. No Grand Master, Deputy Grand Mas- 
ter, Grand Wardens, Treasurer, Secretary, or who- 
ever acts for them or in their stead pro tempore, 
can at the same time be the Master or Warden of 
•a particular Lodge; but as soon as any of them 
has honorably discharged his grand office, he 
returns to that post or station in his particular 
Lodge from which he was called to officiate above. 

XVIII. If the Deputy Grand Master be sick, or 
necessarily absent, the Grand Master may choose 
any Fellow-craft he pleases to be his Deputy pro 
tempore; but he that is chosen Deputy at the 
Grand Lodge, and the Grand Wardens, too, can 
not be discharged without the cause fairly appear 
to the majority of the Grand Lodge; and the 
Grand Master, if hq is uneasy, may call a Grand 
Lodge on purpose to lay the cause before them, 
and to have their advice and concurrence; in 
which case the majority of the Grand Lodge, if 
they can not reconcile the Master and his Deputy 
or his Wardens, are to concur in allowing the 
Master to discharge his said Deputy or his said 
Wardens, and to choose another Deputy imme- 
diately; and the said Grand Lodge shall choose 



OP THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 35 

other Wardens in that case, that harmony and 
peace may be preserved. 

XIX. If the Grand Master should abuse his 
•power, and render himself unworthy of the obe- 
dience and subjection of the Lodges, he shall 
be treated in a way and manner to be agreed 
upon in a new regulation; because hitherto the 
ancient fraternity have had no occasion for it, 
their former Grand Masters having all behaved 
themselves worthy of that honorable office. 

XX. The Grand Master, with his Deputy and 
Wardens, shall (at least once) go round and visit 
all the Lodges about town during his mastership. 

XXI. If the Grand Master die during his mas- 
tership, or by sickness, or by being beyond sea, or 
any other way should be rendered incapable of 
discharging his office, the Deputy, or in his ab- 
sence the Senior Grand Warden, or in his absence 
the Junior, or in his absence any three present 
Masters of Lodges, shall join to congregate the 
Grand Lodge immediately, to advise together 
upon that emergency, and to send two of their 
number to invite the last Grand Master* to re- 
sume his office, which now in course reverts to 
him; or if he refuse, then the next last, and so 
backward; but if no former Grand Master can 
be found, then the Deputy shall act as principal 
until another is chosen ; or if there be no Deputy, 
then the oldest Master. 

*The modern usage is for the present highest grand officer 
to assume the vacant post. 



36 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

XXII. The brethren of all the Lodges in and 
about London and Westminster shall meet at an 
annual communication and feast,* in some con- 
venient place, on St. John Baptist's day, or else 
on St. John Evangelist's day, as the Grand Lodge 
shall think fit by a new regulation, having of late 
years met on St. John Baptist's day; provided 
the majority of Masters and Wardens, with the 
Grand Master, his Deputy and Wardens, agree at 
their quarterly communication,')' three months 
before, that there shall be a feast, and a general 
communication of all the brethren; for, if either 
the Grand Master, or the majority of the particular 
Masters are against it. it must be dropped for that 
time. 

But whether there shall be a feast for all the 
brethren or not, yet the Grand Lodge must meet 
in some convenient place annually, on St. John's 
day ; or if it be Sunday, then on the next day, in 
order to choose every year a new Grand Master, 
Deputy, and Wardens. 

XXIII. If it be thought expedient, and the 
Grand Master, with the majority of the Masters 

*Very few Grand Lodges now observe this regulation. 
The feast of St. John is celebrated every- where by the pri- 
vate Lodges ; but the annual communications of Grand 
Lodges generally occur at a different period of the year. 

I Quarterly communications are still held by the Grand 
Lodge of England, and a few Grand Lodges in this country, 
but the regulation is becoming generally obsolete, simply 
because it has been found impracticable. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 37 

and Wardens, agree to hold a grand feast, accord- 
ing to the ancient laudable custom of Masons, then 
the Grand Wardens shall have the care of prepar- 
ing the tickets, sealed with the Grand Master's 
seal, of disposing of the tickets, of receiving the 
money for the tickets, of buying the materials of 
the feast, of finding out a ^proper and convenient 
place to feast in, and of every other thing that 
concerns the entertainment. 

But that the work may not be too burthensome 
to the two Grand Wardens, and that all matters 
may be expeditiously and safely managed, the 
Grand Master or his Deputy shall have power 
to nominate and appoint a certain number of 
Stewards, as his Worship shall think fit, to act 
in concert with the two Grand Wardens; all 
things relating to the feast being decided among 
them by a majority of voices; except the Grand 
Master or his Deputy interpose by a particular 
direction or appointment. 

XXIY. The Wardens and Stewards shall, in 
due time, wait upon the Grand Master or his 
Deputy for directions and orders about the prem- 
ises; but if his Worship and his Deputy are 
sick or necessarily absent, they shall call together 
the Masters and Wardens of Lodges to meet on 
purpose for their advice and orders, or else they 
may take the matter wholly upon themselves, and 
do the best they can. 

The Grand Wardens and the Stewards are to 
account for all the money they receive or expend 



38 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

to the Grand Lodge, after dinner, or when the 
Grand Lodge shall think fit to receive their 
accounts. 

If the Grand Master pleases, he may in due 
time summon all the Masters and Wardens of 
Lodges to consult with them about ordering the 
grand feast, and about an emergency or accidental 
thing relating thereunto, that may require advice ; 
or else to take it upon himself altogether. 

XXY. The Masters of Lodges shall each ap- 
point one experienced and discreet Fellow-craft of 
his Lodge, to compose a committee, consisting of 
one from every Lodge, who shall meet to receive, 
in a convenient apartment, every person that 
brings a ticket, and shall have power to discourse 
him, if they think fit, in order to admit him or 
debar him, as they shall see cause; provided they 
send no man away before they have acquainted 
all the brethren within doors with the reasons 
thereof, to avoid mistakes, that so no true brother 
may be debarred, nor a false brother or mere 
pretender admitted. This committee must meet 
very early on St. John's day at the place, even 
before any person come with tickets. 

XXYI. The Grand Master shall appoint two or 
more trusty brethren to be porters or door-keepers, 
who are also to be early at the place for some good 
reasons, and who are to be at the command of the 
committee. 

XXYII. The Grand Wardens or the Stewards 
shall appoint beforehand such a number of breth- 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 39 

ren to serve at table as they think fit and proper 
for that work; and they may advise with the 
Masters and Wardens of Lodges about the most 
proper persons, if they please, or may take in 
such by their recommendation; for none are to 
serve that day but Free and Accepted Masons, 
that the communication may be free and harmo- 
nious. 

XXVIII. All the members of the Grand Lodge 
must be at the place long before dinner, with the 
Grand Master or his Deputy at their head, who 
shall retire and form themselves. And this is 
done in order: 

1. To receive any appeals duly lodged as above 
regulated, that the appellant may be heard, and 
the affair may be amicably decided before dinner, 
if possible; but if it can not, it must be delayed 
till after the new Grand Master is elected ; and if 
it can not be decided after dinner, it may be de- 
layed, and referred to a particular committee that 
shall quietly adjust it, and make report to the 
next quarterly communication, that brotherly love 
may be preserved. 

2. To prevent any difference or disgust which 
may be feared to arise that day, that no inter- 
ruption may be given to the harmony and pleas- 
ure of the grand feast. 

3. To consult about whatever concerns the 
decency and decorum of the Grand Assembly, and 
to prevent all indecency and ill manners, the as- 
sembly being promiscuous. 



40 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

4. To receive and consider of any good motion, 
or any momentous and important affair that shall 
be brought from the particular Lodges by their 
representatives, the several Masters and Wardens. 

XXIX. After these things are discussed, the 
Grand Master and his Deputy, the Grand War- 
dens or the Stewards, the Secretary, the Treas- 
urer, the Clerks, and every other person shall 
withdraw, and leave the Masters and Wardens' of 
the particular Lodges alone, in order to consult 
amicably about electing a new Grand Master, or 
continuing the present, if they have not done it 
the day before; and if they are unanimous for 
continuing the present Grand Master, his Worship 
shall be called in, and humbly desired to do the 
fraternity the honor of ruling them for the year 
ensuing ; and after dinner it will be known whether 
he accepts of it or not; for it should not be dis- 
covered but by the election itself. 

XXX. Then the Masters and Wardens and all 
the brethren may converse promiscuously, or as 
they please to sort together, until the dinner is 
coming in, when every brother takes his seat at 
table. 

XXXI. Some time after dinner the Grand 
Lodge is formed, not in retirement, but in the 
presence of all the brethren, who yet are not 
members of it, and must not therefore speak until 
they are desired and allowed. 

XXXII. If the Grand Master of last year has 
consented with the Master and Wardens in 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 41 

private, before dinner, to continue for the year 
ensuing, then one of the Grand Lodge, deputed for 
that purpose, shall represent to all the brethren 
his Worship's good government, etc. And, turn- 
ing to him, shall, in the name of the Grand 
Lodge, humbly request him to do the fraternity 
the great honor, if nobly born, if not, the .great 
kindness, of continuing to be their Grand Master 
for the year ensuing, And his Worship declaring 
his consent by a bow or a speech, as he pleases, 
the said deputed member of the Grand Lodge 
shall proclaim him Grand Master, and all the 
members of the Lodge shall salute him in due 
form. And all the brethren shall for a few min- 
utes have leave to declare their satisfaction, pleas- 
ure, and congratulation. 

XXXIII. But if either the Master and Wardens 
have not in private, this day before dinner, nor the 
day before, desired the last Grand Master to con- 
tinue in the mastership another year, or if he, 
when desired, has not consented, then the last 
Grand Master shall nominate his successor for 
the year ensuing, who, if unanimously approved 
by the Grand Lodge, and if there present, shall 
be proclaimed, saluted, and congratulated the new 
Grand Master, as above hinted, and immediately 
installed by the last Grand Master according to 
usage. 

XXXIV. But if that nomination is not unani- 
mously approved, the new Grand Master shall be 
chosen immediately by ballot, every Master and 



42 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

Warden writing his man's name, and the last 
Grand Master writing his man's name too; and 
the man whose name the last Grand Master shall 
first take out, casually or by chance, shall be 
Grand Master for the year ensuing; and if present 
he shall be proclaimed, saluted, and congratulated 
as above hinted, and forthwith installed by the 
last Grand Master, according to usage.* 

XXXY. The last Grand Master thus continued, 
or the new Grand Master thus installed, shall next 
nominate and appoint his Deputy Grand Master, 
either the last or a new one, who shall be also 
declared, saluted, and congratulated as above 
hinted. 

The Grand Master shall also nominate the new 
Grand Wardens, and if unanimously approved by 
the Grand Lodge, shall be declared, saluted, and 
congratulated as above hinted; but if not, they 
shall be chosen by ballot in the same way as the 
Grand Master; as the Wardens of private Lodges 
are also to be chosen by ballot in each Lodge, if 
the members thereof do not agree to their Master's 
nomination. 

XXXYI. But if the brother whom the present 
Grand Master shall nominate for his successor, or 
whom the majority of the Grand Lodge shall 
happen to choose by ballot, is, by sickness or 
other necessary occasion, absent from the grand 

*I know of no instance on record in which, this custom of 
selecting by lot has been followed. The regulation is now 
clearly every- where obsolete. 



OF THE SOURCES OF MASONIC LAW. 43 

feast, he can not be proclaimed the new Grand 
Master, unless the old Grand Master, or some of 
the Masters and Wardens of the Grand Lodge, 
can vouch, upon the honor of a brother, that the 
said person so nominated or chosen will readily 
accept of the said office; in which case the old 
Grand Master shall act as proxy, and shall nomi- 
nate the Deputy and Wardens in his name, and in 
his name also receive the usual honors, homage, 
and congratulation. 

XXXVII. Then the Grand Master shall allow- 
any brother, Fellow-craft, or Apprentice to speak, 
directing his discourse to his Worship ; or to make 
any motion for the good of the fraternity, which 
shall be either immediately considered and finished, 
or else referred to the consideration of the Grand 
Lodge at their next communication, stated or oc- 
casional. When this is over — 

XXXVIII. The Grand Master or his Deputy, or 
some brother appointed by him, shall harangue 
all the brethren, and give them good advice; and 
lastly, after some other transactions that can not 
be written in any language, the brethren may go 
away, or stay longer, if they please. 

XXXIX. Every annual Grand Lodge has an 
inherent power and authority to make new regu- 
lations, or to alter these for the real benefit of this 
ancient fraternity: provided always that the old 
landmarks be carefully preserved, and that such 
alterations and new regulations be proposed and 
agreed to at the third quarterly communication 



44 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

preceding the annual grand feast ; and that they 
be offered also to the perusal of all the brethren 
before dinner, in writing, even of the youngest 
Apprentice; the approbation and consent of the 
majority of all the brethren present being abso- 
lutely necessary to make the same binding and 
obligatory; which must, after dinner, and after 
the new Grand Master is installed, be solemnly 
desired; as it was desired and obtained for these 
regulations, when proposed by the Grand Lodge, 
to about one hundred and fifty brethren on St. 
John Baptist's day, 1721. 

By studying carefully these old landmarks, 
ancient charges, general regulations, the constitu- 
tion of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, and the 
by-laws of his Lodge, the Master of a Lodge will 
be competent to rule and govern it with order and 
regularity. 



OF CANDIDATES FOR INITIATION. 45 



CHAPTER II. 

OF CANDIDATES FOR INITIATION. 

No person can be admitted a member of the 
Masonic Fraternity, in the State of Kentucky, 
unless he possesses certain qualifications, viz.: 

1. He must be a free-born white man. 

2. A citizen of the state, and resident of the 
place at which he desires to be initiated, and of 
lawful age, which in this state is tw x enty-one years 
or over, 

3. Possessing no deformity which would pre- 
vent him from being perfectly instructed in the 
mysteries of Freemasonry, and in his turn instruct- 
ing others. 

4. Believing in the existence of a Supreme 
Being, and in the immortality of the soul. 

5. Of good character. 

6. Neither an idiot, lunatic, nor dotard; and, 

8. Acting in this matter entirely of his own 
volition. 

We remark here, that none but-free born white 
men, of twenty-one years of age or over, citizens 
of the state, and residents of the places at which 
their applications are made, can be initiated in or 
be admitted members of Lodges in this state. 



46 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

The application for initiation must be made to 
the Lodge nearest to the residence of the individ- 
ual, except in cities and towns where there are 
more than one Lodge, in which case the applica- 
tion may be made to either of them. But the 
particular Lodge possessing the jurisdiction in 
such case may, by resolution, relinquish it, and 
consent that the individual may be initiated by 
some other Lodge. The Grand Lodge of Ken- 
tucky does not sanction the making Masons of 
the citizens of other states by the Lodges under 
her jurisdiction; it is therefore necessary that the 
candidate be in good faith a citizen and resident 
of the place within the jurisdiction of the Lodge 
to which his application is presented ; and, as the 
jurisdiction of each Lodge extends to a point half 
way between it and the nearest Lodge, there 
can be no difficulty in determining to which the 
application should be made. 

In regard to the mental qualifications of a 
candidate, it may be observed that in this respect 
he ought to be of good, sound understanding. 
Persons of notoriously weak minds should be 
unhesitatingly rejected. The question has arisen 
whether a man who has been insane is a fit person 
to be initiated. The remarks of Dr. A. G. Mackey 
on this subject are so just that we quote them: "The 
reply to the question depends on the fact whether 
the patient has been fully restored or not. If he 
has, he is not insane, and does not come within 
the provisions of the law, which looks only to the 



OF CANDIDATES FOR INITIATION. 47 

present condition — mental, physical, or moral — 
of the candidate ; if he has not, and if his appar- 
ent recovery is only what medical men call a lucid 
interval, then the disease of insanity, although 
not actually evident, is still there, but dormant; 
and the individual can not be initiated." 

In regard to character, we remark that the 
applicant should be of good moral character, or as 
it has been quaintly expressed, " under the tongue 
of good report," and having visible or honorable 
means of obtaining a support for himself and 
family. While the Lodge inculcates the practice 
of all the moral virtues, it should not be converted 
into a moral reform school, in which the man of 
bad habits, the libertine and debauchee should be 
received in the hope that they may be induced to 
reform, and become good members of society. 
This has been too often done to the scandal of the 
fraternity before the world, and the experiment 
has not succeeded. To all such we would say, in 
the language of the ancient mystagogue, adminis- 
tering the profound mysteries, u procul : p?"ocul, esto 
profanes!" — begone, begone, ye profane! 

Lastly, the candidate must offer himself for 
initiation voluntarily — "of his own free will and 
accord" — unbiased by friends, and uninfluenced by 
mercenary motives. Too many, we fear, in taking 
this important step, are actuated by low and self- 
ish motives ; some good to be obtained ; a benefit 
to be received, either presently or remotely. 
Hence the eager haste to obtain the degrees of 



48 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

Masonry when what are falsely called cases of 
emergency occur. Some voyage or long and 
dangerous journey is to be made, and the man 
who has lived for years within the sound of the 
gavel is suddenly impressed with the desire to be 
immediately initiated. Then it is a case of great 
emergency! The Grand Lodge of Kentucky has 
wisely determined against granting dispensations, 
to initiate any one until his petition shall lie over 
the requisite time for inquiry. 

OF THE PETITION. 

The application of a candidate to become a 
Mason must be made in the form of a written or 
printed petition, signed by the candidate in his 
own proper handwriting, stating his age and occu- 
pation, and giving his residence. If it be in a 
city, it ought also to state the particular house in 
which he resides, giving its number if possible, 
and the street in which it is situated, so that due 
inquiry can be made as to his character in his 
immediate neighborhood. It must also be recom- 
mended by two brothers, members of the Lodge 
to which it is to be offered, who sign their names 
to the recommendation. The petition must be 
presented and read at a regular stated meeting 
of the Lodge, that the members present may 
have notice of the application, and be enabled 
to inform those who are absent, after which it 
is ordered to lie over until the next monthly 
meeting, and is referred to a committee, whose 



OF CANDIDATES FOR INITIATION. 49 

duty it is to make due inquiry into the character of 
the applicant, and report thereon. The reason for 
this delay is well expressed in the General Kegula- 
tions of 1722, that "no man can be made or admit- 
ted a member of any particular Lodge without pre- 
vious notice one month before given to the Lodge." 
The petition has now become the property of 
the Lodge, and can not be withdrawn but by 
the unanimous consent of the Lodge, expressed 
through the ballot-box. It is the duty of the 
committee to whom it has been referred to make 
true and diligent inquiry into the character and 
standing of the applicant, and make report there- 
of without favor or affection. Too frequently it is 
the case that the Committee of Inquiry is looked 
upon as one of mere form, and the importance of 
the inquiry is neglected ; so that improper persons 
are admitted into the Lodges, who become stum- 
bling-blocks and causes of reproach to the frater- 
nity. It is much easier to keep an unworthy man 
out of the Lodge by the use of the ballot than it 
is to get him out after he has been initiated; and 
it sometimes happens that facts come to light 
after initiation which, had the Committee of In- 
quiry performed their duty truly, would have 
been made known to the Lodge previous to the 
ballot, and would have secured the rejection of 
the candidate. At the ensuing monthly meeting 
of the Lodge the committee make their report, 
and the Lodge is then ready to vote upon the ap- 
plication, which is done by the use of the ballot. 
5 






50 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF THE BALLOT. 

The ballot, on all applications for initiation or 
membership, must be secret and unanimous, and 
be taken at a stated or regular meeting of the 
Lodge, and all the members present must vote, 
unless unanimously excused by the members of 
the Lodge then present. The constitution of the 
Grand Lodge of Kentucky has wisely provided 
that "the ballot in all cases shall be strictly se- 
cret, and each brother shall be secured in his right 
to cast it privately and irresponsibly, as between 
himself and his own conscience;" and further, 
"no vote shall be taken or means used to ascer<- 
tain, either directly or indirectly, the sense of the 
Lodge in reference to a petition, save as above 
directed." 

Therefore it is highly improper for any brother 
to declare or even intimate the manner in which 
he voted, and any attempt to do so, or to discover 
how brethren voted, should be promptly checked 
by the Master. It is very obvious, if it were 
permitted for each member to declare how he 
voted on a petition, those voting in the negative 
would be easily ascertained, either by their dis- 



OF THE BALLOT. 51 

tinct avowal or by their silence, and most cer- 
tainly the harmony of the Lodge would be dis- 
turbed in consequence. 

If the ballots deposited in the box should all 
prove favorable, the candidate is declared to be 
elected; but should the box exhibit more than 
one black ball, the candidate is declared rejected. 
The constitution of the Grand Lodge of Ken- 
tucky on this subject is to this effect: 

"rTo balloting can be done at a called meeting, 
or one that has been called off beyond the day or 
night of the stated meeting. 

"In balloting, if more than one negative ap- 
pear, the balloting shall cease, and the candidate 
be declared rejected; nor can his application be 
renewed for less than twelve months. But if on 
the first ballot one negative only appear, a second 
ballot shall immediately take place, and if on the 
second ballot a negative still appears, no ballot 
shall be taken for one year, unless, by the second 
stated meeting thereafter, the member opposing 
shall voluntarily withdraw his objections in open 
Lodge." 

Thus we see there can be no reconsideration of 
the ballot. It is only when a single black ball 
appears that the Master can direct a second ballot 
to be taken, to satisfy himself and the members 
of the Lodge that it was not the result of mis- 
taking a black ball for a white one; and if on the 
second ballot a black ball still appears, the ballot- 
ing shall cease, and the candidate be declared re- 



52 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

jected; nor can he be balloted for again for one 
year, unless, by the second stated meeting there- 
after, the member opposing shall voluntarily with- 
draw his objection in open Lodge. Nor when a 
single black ball appears can the balloting be post- 
poned until a subsequent meeting ; it must be im- 
mediately proceeded with, and the result declared. 

The possibility of mistake in choosing the bal- 
lot, when about to vote, can be in a great measure 
obviated by the Lodge causing the white ballots to 
be made round and the black ballots to be made 
square. The difference between them can readily 
be ascertained by the touch. 

Should the rejected candidate, at the expiration 
of one year, still desire initiation, he must present 
his petition anew, which must take the same 
course and be subjected to the same scrutiny as 
to character as if he had never before petitioned 
the Lodge, and he must again be balloted for. 

When an application is made for membership 
in any Lodge by a brother, it must be by peti- 
tion, recommended by two members of the Lodge, 
and under the same rules as are prescribed for pe- 
titions for initiation. 

Upon an application of a brother to be advanced 
to the degree of Fellow-craft or Master Mason, the 
ballot must be taken in like manner as in petitions 
for initiation, and must be equally unanimous; and 
in the event of a black ball upon the second ballot 
no further ballot can be taken in a less period than 
three months. 



OF THE BALLOT. 53 

As the admission, either by initiation, advance- 
ment, or to membership must be absolutely unan- 
imous, it is competent for any member of the 
Lodge to prevent the admission of a candidate 
at any moment prior to making him a Mason, or 
passing or raising him. 



54 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OF SUBORDINATE LODGES. 

A Lodge is defined in the ancient charges of 
1722 to be a "place where Masons assemble and 
work; hence, that assembly or duly organized 
society of Masons is called a Lodge, and every 
brother ought to belong to one, and be subject to 
its by-laws and general regulations." 

In ancient times, a sufficient number of Masons 
met together could open a Lodge, and, with the 
consent of the sheriff or chief magistrate where 
they were assembled, proceed to make Masons. 
Up to 1717 there was no regular local organiza- 
tion of Masons into distinct bodies, acting under 
a warrant or charter ; neither was there anywhere 
existing a Grand Lodge, according to our accep- 
tation of that term. At that time, Masonry hav- 
ing declined from various causes, the four Lodges 
then existing in London, and meeting occasionally 
by powers inherent in the craft at large, by mu- 
tual agreement met at the Apple-tree Tavern and 
formed the first modern Grand Lodge. 

At this meeting it was agreed "that the priv- 
ilege of assembling as Masons should no longer be 
unlimited, but that it should be vested in certain 



OF SUBORDINATE LODGES. 55 

Lodges, convened in certain places, and legally 
authorized by the warrant of the Grand Master 
and the consent of the Grand Lodge. Ever since, 
"all just and legally constituted Lodges" are such 
as assemble by the consent of either a Grand Mas- 
ter, usually called Lodges under dispensation, or 
of a Grand Lodge, known as chartered or war- 
ranted Lodges. 

A Lodge is said to be "just" when composed 
of the number of brethren requisite to work in a 
certain degree; and in addition there are present 
a Bible, square, and compasses, which are its fur- 
niture. It is said to be "legally constituted" 
when, in addition to the above furniture, it is 
opened under the sanction of a dispensation or 
charter, granted by a constitutional authority; 
and this dispensation or charter, together with 
the furniture, must always be present in the 
Lodge. 

OF LODGES UNDER DISPENSATION. 

Seven or more Master Masons, desiring to form 
themselves into a Lodge, must apply by a petition 
signed by them, to the Grand Master for the time 
being, of the particular Masonic jurisdiction in 
which they reside, if the application be made 
when the Grand Lodge is not in session, for a 
dispensation or written authority from him to 
assemble and work as such. If the Grand Lodge, 
however, be in session, then the application must 
be made directly to that body. 



56 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

The petition, under the constitution of the 
Grand Lodge of Kentucky, should contain the 
following requisites: 

1. It should be signed by at least seven peti- 
tioners, who are — 

2. All Master Masons ; and, 

3. All non-affiliated Masons; that is, not mem- 
bers of any active, working Lodge. 

4. They must all be in good standing ; that is, 
not under a sentence of suspension or expulsion, 
or have charges for Masonic offenses filed against 
them. 

5. A good reason must be given for their re- 
quest. 

6. The place proposed for the meetings of the 
new Lodge, and its name, must be distinctly 
stated in the petition, with the name of the 
county in which it is situated. 

7. The names of the petitioners proposed as 
Master and Wardens must be set out in full; 
and, 

8. It must also contain a promise to obey the 
constitutional rules and regulations of the Grand 
Lodge. 

9. It must be recommended by the nearest 
Lodge, except in cities or towns where there 
are more than four Lodges established, and then 
the consent of a majority of said Lodges must be 
obtained. 

10. The recommending Lodge shall also cer- 
tify that the proposed Master and Wardens are 



OF SUBORDINATE LODGES. 57 

competent to do the work of Masonry according 
to the ancient landmarks; and, 

11. That said Lodge is necessary. 

These formalities being complied with, if the 
Grand Master deems the interests of Masonry 
require that the proposed new Lodge should be 
established, he causes a dispensation to be issued 
by the Grand Secretary, under seal of the Grand 
Lodge, signed by himself as Grand Master and at- 
tested by the Grand Secretary, authorizing the pe- 
titioners to meet as a regular Lodge, at the place 
indicated, and do all such Masonic work as properly 
pertains to and which are expressed in the dispen- 
sation. He will also issue a commission to some 
competent brother, who must be of the rank of 
Past Master, and served a term as Master in a 
regular Lodge under this jurisdiction, to install 
the officers of the new Lodge and set it to work 
in a regular Masonic manner. This dispensation 
will be in force until the close of the ensuing Com- 
munication of the Grand Lodge, when it will ex- 
pire by limitation. 

A great deal has been written and published by 
Masonic writers upon the condition and powers 
of Lodges under dispensation — some looking upon 
them as inchoate Lodges; others as mere commit- 
tees appointed by the Grand Master to confer the 
three degrees of Masonry upon worthy applicants ; 
alleging that they can not increase their member- 
ship by affiliation; nor try any member for any 
Masonic offense; that they can not be represented 



58 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

in the Grand Lodge, etc., etc. "We do not here 
enter into any discussion of these questions, as 
we look upon the whole matter as a question of 
policy, and concede that every Grand Lodge has 
a right to prescribe the terms and conditions upon 
which the Grand Master may grant dispensations 
for the formation of new Lodges in that particular 
jurisdiction. In Kentucky, every Lodge under 
dispensation is authorized, during its continuance, 
to do any and every act that a chartered Lodge 
is capable of doing, except that it can not elect 
its three principal officers. It is entitled to be 
represented in the Grand Lodge, also, like any 
other Lodge. 

It is the duty of the Lodge under dispensation 
to return it to the Grand Lodge at its next annual 
communication, accompanied by its work and a 
copy of its by-laws, so that, by an inspection of 
the whole, that body may determine whether the 
dispensation should be suffered to expire (which 
would put an end to the Lodge), or whether it 
should be continued for another year, or whether 
a regular charter should be granted it. 

If the Grand Lodge directs that the dispensa- 
tion be continued for another year, the Grand 
Secretary makes an indorsement to that effect on 
the back of it, which he signs, and to which he 
affixes the Grand Lodge seal, and thereupon the 
officers and members of the Lodge can continue 
their work under the dispensation until the next 
annual Communication, when it must be again 



OF SUBORDINATE LODGES. 59 

returned, accompanied as before by its work and 
by-laws, for examination; when, if approved of, 
a charter will be granted, and the Grand Master 
again issues his commission to some competent 
brother as before to install the officers and set the 
members to work as a chartered Lodge. 

OF CHARTERED LODGES. 

The only distinction in Kentucky between 
Lodges under dispensation and chartered Lodges 
is, that, besides inability to elect their officers, 
as- has been already stated, the former are lim- 
ited while the latter are unlimited in duration, 
and exist so long as the Grand Lodge exists, 
unless their charters are revoked by the Grand 
Lodge or surrendered by their members. Char- 
tered Lodges also have the power to elect their 
officers at the times specified in the Constitution 
of the Grand Lodge; consequently, all elections 
attempted to be held at any other time are illegal 
and therefore void, and confer no rights on the 
parties so attempted to be elected. 

The charter, however, may be arrested or re- 
voked by the Grand Lodge for contumacy on the 
part of the Lodge, or for being in arrears for 
more than twelve months, and for being unrep- 
resented in the Grand Lodge for three successive 
years. It may also be surrendered by the. vote 
of a majority of its members, but not if there 
shall be seven or more paying members willing 
to maintain it and work under it. 



60 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

The charter of a Lodge may also be tempo- 
rarily arrested by the Grand Master for what he 
deems a sufficient cause, which shall have the 
effect of suspending the whole work of the Lodge 
until the ensuing annual meeting of the Grand 
Lodge, unless in the interim he shall think it fit 
to restore it. 

OF THE POWERS OF CHARTERED LODGES. 

These have been properly divided into three 
grand classes by the Grand Lodge of New York, 
in her constitution, as follows : 

1. Executive — In the direction and perform- 
ance of its work under the control of its Master, 
and in all other matters in aid of the Master, who 
has the primary executive power of a Lodge ; 

2. Legislative — Embracing all matters relat- 
ing to its internal concerns, not in derogation of 
the ancient landmarks, the constitution, and gen- 
eral regulations of the Grand Lodge, and its own 
particular by-laws ; and, 

3. Judicial — Embracing the exercise of disci- 
pline, and settlement of controversies between 
and over all its members (except the Master), and 
over all Masons and non-affiliated brethren within 
its jurisdiction, subject to an appeal to the Grand 
Lodge. 

There are certain inherent rights, however, be- 
longing to each chartered Lodge, which have been 
so happily set forth by Brother A. G. Mackey, 
that we here insert them, viz.: 



OF SUBORDINATE LODGES. 61 

1. To retain possession of its warrant of con- 
stitution ; 

2. To do all the work of Ancient Craft Masonry; 

3. To transact all business that can be legally 
transacted by regularly congregated Masons; 

.4. To be represented at all communications of 
the Grand Lodge; 

5. To increase its numbers by the admission of 
new members; 

6. To elect its officers ; 

7. To install its officers after being elected; 

8. To exclude a member, on cause shown, tem- 
porarily or permanently, from the Lodge; 

9. To make by-laws for its local government ; 

10. To levy a tax upon its members; 

11. To appeal to the Grand Lodge from a decision 
of its Master; 

12. To exercise penal jurisdiction over its own 
members, and on unaffiliated Masons living within 
the limits of its jurisdiction; 

13. To select a name for itself; 

14. To designate and change its time and place 
of meeting. 

This right, however, to change its place of 
meeting refers only to a change from one place 
to another in the same village or city where it 
is situated, or from one neighborhood to another. 
To change from one village to another must be 
done by the consent of the Grand Lodge, pre- 
viously obtained. 



62 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER V. 

OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 

The well-being and success of a Lodge, and its 
capacity to carry out the objects of Freemasonry, 
depends, in a great measure, upon not only the 
Masonic skill and ability of its officers, but also 
upon their industry, good sense, and judgment. A 
Lodge is a little community, banded together for 
certain purposes well known to the initiated. In 
becoming Masons they have not ceased to be 
men, and too often human passions and feelings 
intermingle with the workings of the institution. 
It therefore is incumbent on the officers of the 
Lodge, in the discharge of their duties, to be kind 
and conciliating ; smoothing down all asperities of 
manner; spreading the cement of brotherly love 
and affection ; rendering to every one that due at- 
tention which should ever distinguish a band of 
brothers ; and whilst by their own example they 
elucidate the virtues of the craft, " admonish with 
kindness, and reprehend with justice." Whilst 
the powers of the Master over his Lodge are 
great, they should be exercised in a patriarchal 
manner; and he who is elected to that responsible 
position should remember that the brethren have 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 63 

committed to his hands great powers, to be used 
for the benefit of themselves in particular, and 
of Masonry in general. 

The officers of a Lodge are usually: 

1. A Master, who is styled Worshipful, which is 
an ancient English title of honor; 

2. A Senior Warden; 

3. A Junior Warden ; 

4. A Treasurer; 

5. A Secretary; 

6. A Senior Deacon; 

7. A Junior Deacon ; and, 

8. A Tyler, who commonly acts as Steward of 
the Lodge. 

In some Lodges a Chaplain is elected, and the 
office of Tyler is separate from that of Steward. 

All these officers, with the exception of the Dea- 
cons, are to be elected annually on the festival of 
St. John the Evangelist, which is the 27th day of 
December. But if it falls on a Sunday, then the 
annual election shall be held on either the day 
before or the day after, at the choice of the 
Lodge, to be determined at the previous stated 
meeting. These officers should be immediately 
installed in their respective offices, if possible, at 
the time of election, or at all events as soon there- 
after as may be. After the installation the Master 
appoints the Senior Deacon, and the Senior War- 
den the Junior Deacon. Each officer holds his 
office for the ensuing year, and until his successor 
is duly elected, except the Deacons, and installed. 



64 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

The Deacons hold theirs until their successors are 
duly appointed and charged. 

If a Lodge should fail to hold an election for 
officers at the time prescribed in the Constitution, 
the officers of the Lodge hold over until the ensu- 
ing annual election, just as if they had been 
re-elected to their respective offices. 

OF THE MASTER. 

The well-being of a Lodge, in a great measure, 
depends upon the intelligence, conduct, prudence, 
and tact of its Master. A worthy ambition nat- 
urally prompts the young Mason to endeavor to 
reach the Master's chair; but unless he has imbued 
his mind deeply with Masonic lore, not only by a 
constant attendance on the Lodge, but by study- 
ing the sources of Masonic light and jurisprudence, 
and likewise tamed his passions to be subservient 
to an enlightened judgment, he will find himself 
inefficient in the proper discharge of the multifa- 
rious duties of that office. Like the pilot of a 
vessel, unacquainted with the rocks and shallows 
that thickly bestud its navigation, he will find 
himself unable to avoid the perils that surround 
him. A careless, ignorant, and therefore too fre- 
quently a bigoted, Master is highly detrimental 
to the usefulness of a Lodge, and many have been 
irreparably injured, and some wholly destroyed 
and broken up, by incompetent Masters. 

The ancient charges, approved in 1722, say, no 
brother can be " a Master until he has acted as a 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE 65 

Warden." The constitution of the Grand Lodge 
of Kentucky provides that "no brother can be 
elected Master of a Lodge who has not been pre- 
viously elected and served as Warden of a Lodge 
in this jurisdiction, except in extraordinary cases, 
or at the formation of a new Lodge, when no 
Past Warden who is willing and qualified to act 
as Master is to be found among the members. " 
Besides these qualifications he should be "of good 
morals, of great skill, true and trusty, and a lover 
of the whole fraternity, wheresoever dispersed 
over the face of the earth." He should not only 
be capable of doing the work of Freemasonry, 
according to the ancient landmarks, but able to 
elucidate the peculiar rites and ceremonies and 
history of the institution. These are boundless 
themes, and under the charge of a skillful Master 
the Lodge should be made, what it was originally 
intended to be, a school of knowledge as well as 
of morals. 

The powers and prerogatives of the Master 
of a Lodge are numerous and complicated. Be- 
sides those expressly given him by the consti- 
tution, he possesses, inherent to his office, the 
following : 

1. His chief and most important prerogative is 
to preside over his Lodge during his term of 
office. This includes not only its work, but the 
arrangement and order of its business ; and in all 
cases his decision is final, subject, however, to an 
appeal to the Grand Lodge. 



66 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

2. He has the right to congregate his Lodge at 
any time, in emergent cases, or when the business 
of the Lodge in his opinion requires it, and of the 
propriety of doing so he is the sole judge. 

3. It is also his right to close his Lodge at any 
time that may seem to him necessary and proper. 
Hence, a motion to close the Lodge, or to adjourn, 
or to call off from labor to refreshment, should 
never be entertained by him, because they are 
interferences with his prerogative. 

4. It is his prerogative also to arrange the 
order in which the business of the Lodge shall 
be presented to it; and, to regulate and terminate 
the discussion of any question before it, if in his 
opinion the discussion has gone far enough, or 
with a view to prevent any personalities and re- 
criminations, which will sometimes unfortunately 
occur, and which must interrupt its peace and 
harmony, he can rise in his place and put the 
question at once to the members, or adjourn it 
to another meeting, as may seem to him best. 
Hence, a motion for the previous question ought 
not to be entertained. 

5. He has the right also of appointing his 
Senior Deacon, and all committees of his Lodge, 
of which also he is a member by virtue of his 
office. In some Lodges, however, the by-laws 
provide that the standing committee on accounts 
shall be elected by the Lodge at each annual elec- 
tion. This is conceived to be an infringement on 
the prerogative of the Master. 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 67 

6. The Master also has a right to represent his 
Lodge at the annual communications of the Grand 
Lodge. If he is unable to attend, or declines to 
avail himself of his privilege, then it rests in the 
Senior Warden, and in case of his default, then in 
the Junior Warden. If none of them can attend, 
then the Lodge can elect one of their number as 
their representative, which must be certified under 
the seal of the Lodge. 

7. It is also the prerogative of the Master to 
determine what visitors shall be admitted into his 
Lodge. The right of visitation is a qualified, not 
an absolute and inherent, right. If the admission 
of any visitor would disturb its peace and har- 
mony, or if he be not in fitting condition, or not 
of good moral character, it is the duty of the 
Master to refuse him admittance. 

8. It is likewise his prerogative to refuse admit- 
tance to a member of his Lodge for the foregoing 
reasons. The ritual is, " that none pass or repass 
without permission of the Master," etc.; and, for 
reasons of a like character, he may cause a 
withdrawal of a member of the Lodge, after 
admittance; but this prerogative should be ex- 
ercised with great delicacy and discretion. The 
excluded member, however, has a right of appeal 
from the decision of the Master to the Grand Lodge. 

9. He has the right to give the casting vote on 
any question before the Lodge, in case of a tie. 
This, however, does not extend to any election of 
officers. 



68 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

10. He has also the right, in the temporary ab- 
sence of any officer of the Lodge, to appoint 
another member to discharge the duties of that 
office for the occasion. 

11. He has the right, and it is his duty, to tak,e 
charge of the charter of his Lodge, which is 
peculiarly the object of his care, because he is 
responsible for it ; and if demanded by the Grand 
Lodge, or the Grand Master, such demand is most 
properly made on him. It is also his duty, when 
retiring from his office, to deliver it to his successor 
on his installation. 

12. It is also his prerogative, upon his election 
to the office of Master, to have the degree of 
Present or Past Master conferred on him by 
his predecessor, at his installation, and he can 
not be regularly installed in his office, for the 
first time, without receiving it. 

13. It is also his prerogative to be re-elected 
to the office of Master as often as the members 
of his Lodge think proper to elect him to that 
position. 

14. Another prerogative of the Master is, that 
during his term of office he can not be tried 
for any Masonic offense, alleged to have been 
committed by him, by any Masonic tribunal ex- 
cept the Grand Lodge. If the alleged offense 
is of such a character as to render it important, 
to protect the institution from its evil effect, 
and to preserve the peace and harmony of the 
Lodge, that some immediate steps should be 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 69 

taken in his case, upon proper representations 
made to him, the Grand Master can suspend him 
from the exercise of his office until the will and 
pleasure of the Grand Lodge can be made known, 
and place the Lodge under the charge of the 
Senior Warden in the interim. 

OF THE SENIOR WARDEN. 

The prerogatives of the Senior Warden are : 

1. In the absence of the Master it is his right 
to exercise all the powers and privileges and per- 
form all the duties of the Master of the Lodge, as 
fully as the Master could, were he present, includ- 
ing the conferring of degrees. It is therefore 
highly important that his moral and intellectual 
qualities should be of a high order, that he may be 
fully competent to discharge the duties pertaining 
to the office of Master. Hence, all that we have 
said in regard to the qualifications of that officer 
apply with equal force to the Senior Warden. In 
the absence of the Master, after having congre- 
gated the Lodge — that is, called its members to 
labor — he may resign the gavel, if he thinks proper 
to do so, to some experienced Past Master who 
may be present ; but this is only by courtesy, and 
the Past Master acts solely under the authority of 
the Senior Warden. 

2. In case of the absence of the Master, or his 
inability to attend and represent the Lodge in the 
communications of the Grand Lodge, it is the 
prerogative of the Senior Warden to do so. 



70 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

3. He has the right to be elected to the office 
of Warden, or to be elected Master of his Lodge. 
This last right, however, he holds in common 
with every member of the Lodge who has been 
previously elected and served a regular term as 
Warden. Nor is it necessary that this service of 
a term as Warden should be in that particular 
Lodge, for such service in any Lodge in the juris- 
diction of the Grand Lodge is sufficient to make 
him eligible to be elected Master. 

4. He has the right also, at the annual elections, 
to appoint the Junior Deacon of the Lodge. 

OF THE JUNIOR WARDEN* 

The prerogatives of the Junior Warden are : 

1. In the absence of the Master and Senior 
Warden, to exercise in the Lodge all the rights, 
powers, and privileges of the Master, which have 
devolved on him by virtue of that absence, as 
fully and completely as the Master could do. 
These have been sufficiently set forth hereto- 
fore, and need not therefore be repeated. 

2. In the absence or inability of the Master or 
Senior Warden to represent the Lodge in the com- 
munications of the Grand Lodge, it is his preroga- 
tive to do so. 

3. Like the Senior Warden, he has the right to 
be re-elected to his office, or to be elected Senior 
Warden, and even Master of his Lodge, under 
like qualifications. 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 71 

OF THE TREASURER. 

This officer is a very important one in the 
Lodge. All the moneys belonging to it pass into 
his hands, and are disbursed by him under the 
direction of the Lodge. He ought, therefore, to 
be a man of strict integrity and uprightness; a 
good accountant, and methodical in his business 
habits and arrangements. His duties are three- 
fold : 

1. To receive all moneys from the hands of the 
Secretary, and to receipt to him therefor. 

2. To make due entries thereof in his books; 
and, 

3. To pay out the same only on the order of 
the Master, and by the consent — that is, by the 
vote — of the members of the Lodge. 

The Treasurer should regard the money in his 
hands as a confidential deposit, set apart and 
devoted as a sacred fund, and is not to be used 
by him for any private purpose whatever. For 
the safety of the fund committed to his charge, 
he ought, in all cases, to be required to execute a 
bond, with sufficient surety, to make the Lodge 
safe in the amount thereof. 

We have frequently noticed that where the 
finances of a Lodge have been well managed 
and kept safe, they form a nucleus which helps 
to keep its members together. Like bees at 
work in a hive rich with honey, they display 
great activity and work with great alacrity. But 



72 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

where the finances have been managed badly or 
squandered; where the Treasurer, as is unfortu- 
nately too often the case, has appropriated the 
funds of the Lodge to his own use, and is unable 
to refund them; apathy and distrust soon super- 
vene, and like a hive robbed of the rich labors 
of the season, in many instances ceasing to work, 
the Lodge goes down gradually, and eventually 
gives up its charter. 

OF THE SECRETARY. 

Next to the Master, we look upon the Secretary 
as the most important officer of the Lodge, as at 
present organized. His duties are various and 
complicated; he should therefore be quick of com- 
prehension, ready with the pen, a good accountant, 
a fluent reader, and possess habits of order and 
method in a high degree. The records of the Lodge 
should be kept in a plain, formal manner, avoiding 
all remarks, explanations, or comments therein by 
the Secretary, as they should contain nothing but 
a clear and succinct history of the action of the 
Lodge, so far as it is proper to record them. 

The duties of the Secretary are so multifarious 
that it is difficult to enumerate them all, but the 
principal ones are these : 

1. To record faithfully all the proceedings of 
the Lodge that are proper to be recorded. 

2. To keep an accurate account of the debits 
and credits of each individual member in a book 
provided for that purpose. 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 73 

3. To collect promptly all moneys due the Lodge, 
and pay the same over to the Treasurer, and take 
his receipt therefor. 

4. To attend all committees appointed to take 
testimony for or against any Mason who may be 
under charges in the Lodge, and to reduce to 
writing fairly and impartially the evidence ad- 
duced before said committees, and report the same 
when required to the Lodge. 

5. To make out and transmit to the Grand Sec- 
retary, under the seal of the Lodge, a true and 
perfect transcript of its proceedings in every case 
in which an appeal to the Grand Lodge is taken 
from its decision, or that of the Master, together 
with all papers connected therewith. 

6. To make out and transmit to the Grand Sec- 
retary, when required to do so by the Grand Mas- 
ter or the Grand Lodge, a full and fair transcript 
of any portion of the records of the Lodge, together 
with all papers connected therewith. 

7. To furnish diplomas and dimits or other doc- 
uments when ordered by the Lodge, duly signed 
and under its seal. 

8. To make out annually under its seal full and 
true returns of the condition and workings of the 
Lodge, according to the form prescribed by the 
Grand Lodge, and transmit the same to the Grand 
Secretary. 

9. To report to the Grand Secretary, under the 
seal of the Lodgey the names of all Masons expelled 
by the Lodge, and for what offense. 



74 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

10. To report to the Grand Secretary, immedi- 
ately after each election by the Lodge, under its 
seal, the names of the officers so elected and ap- 
pointed. 

11. To preserve the seal of the Lodge, the record 
and other books, papers, and property in his pos- 
session as Secretary, and deliver them to the 
Master at the close of his term of office. 

12. To carry on and conduct the correspondence 
of the Lodge, under its instructions or those of the 
Master. 

13. To issue such notices and summonses to 
members and others as may be required by the 
Master or the Lodge, and deliver them promptly 
to the Tyler for service. 

14. As all the funds of the Lodge are received 
by the Secretary, in order to secure it against loss, 
he should execute a bond, with good security, for 
the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, 
and the prompt payment to the Treasurer of all 
moneys so collected by him. 

OF THE SENIOR DEACON. 

This officer receives his appointment from the 
Master, whose active agent he is in carrying on 
the work of the Lodge. His position is a very 
important one, and he should be intelligent, and 
well skilled in the work according to the ancient 
landmarks. His duties are: 

1. To convey all orders from the Master during 
the meeting of the Lodge, when necessary. 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 75 

2. To receive, introduce, and attend to the com- 
fortable accommodation of visiting brethren. 

3. To take charge of the ballot-box, and collect 
the ballots from the members when voting, at all 
elections. 

4. To receive and conduct candidates during the 
conferring the several degrees. 

OF THE JUNIOR DEACON. 

This officer receives his appointment from the 
Senior Warden, whose active agent he is in carry- 
ing on the work of the Lodge. His duties are : 

1. To see that the Lodge is properly tiled. 

2. To convey all messages from the Senior War- 
den during the meeting of the Lodge. 

3. To see that no one enters or departs without 
the consent of the Master. 

OF THE STEWARD AND TYLER. 

In most of the Lodges the Tyler acts also as 
Steward. 

Steward. — As Steward it is his duty to see that 
the Lodge-room is properly cleaned and prepared 
for the meeting of the members, the aprons all 
ready for use, lights prepared, water provided, 
and the jewels ready for the different officers. 

Tyler. — This is one of the most important offi- 
cers of the Lodge, and therefore he should be 
cautious, vigilant, and intelligent in the discharge 
of his duties, but at the same time polite in his 
demeanor to all. Without him the Lodge can not 



76 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

proceed with its business, nor safely carry it on in 
his absence, and he should therefore never desert 
his post. His duties are : 

1. To guard well the entrance to the Lodge 
from all cowans and eavesdroppers, and see that 
none pass without being properly qualified and 
permitted to do so by the Master. 

2. To serve all notices and summonses when 
required to do so by the Master or the Lodge, and 
make due return thereof. 

OF PAST MASTERS. 

In speaking of Past Masters, we must be under- 
stood as alluding to such as are now called "actual 
Past Masters," to distinguish them from those who 
have taken the degree of Past Master in a Eoyal 
Arch Chapter preparatory to being exalted to the 
Eoyal Arch degree, and are called "virtual Past 
Masters." 

Past Masters, then, are such as have been duly 
and legally elected Masters of chartered Lodges, 
or appointed to that office by the Grand Master 
on the establishment of a new Lodge, and having 
been installed as such, and served out their terms 
of office, they are then designated Past Masters, 
because they have passed the chair. Eeceiving 
the degree in a Chapter of Eoyal Arch Masons 
does not of itself qualify such brother to fill the 
chair in a subordinate Lodge, nor is he entitled to 
the rank and privileges of a Past Master in any 
Grand or Subordinate Lodge by reason thereof. 



OF THE OFFICERS OF THE LODGE. 77 

The only inherent right possessed by a Past 
Master is, in common with any Warden, to be 
re-elected Master of a Lodge. It is customary for 
the Master of a Lodge to invite Past Masters to 
seats in the east on his right or left hand, but this 
is only as a matter of courtesy and respect to 
those who have occupied the chair before him. 

By the constitution of the Grand Lodge of 
Kentucky, Past Masters who are members of 
subordinate Lodges, have the right to sit in the 
Grand Lodge as members. They can also speak 
therein on any question, and may be appointed on 
committees; but in voting on any question they 
vote as a class, all the Past Masters present being 
entitled collectively to but one vote. The right 
of Past Masters to sit in the Grand Lodge, how- 
ever, is not an inherent right ; it is one conferred 
by the constitution, and may be abolished. 

A Chapter or virtual Past Master has no right 
to exercise in a symbolic Lodge any function 
pertaining to the office and attributes of the 
Master, and consequently can not install a newly 
elected Master. 



78 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF THE ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE LODGE- 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 

Previous to the revival of Masonry in England, 
in 1717, the mass of the fraternity were Entered 
Apprentice Masons. Up to that time Lodges were 
generally held by a competent number of brethren 
assembling themselves temporarily for the purpose 
of initiating some suitable applicant. By mutual 
understanding they assembled at a proper place, 
selecting for the occasion one of their number to 
preside over them for the time, and when they 
had finished their work the Lodge was closed. 
They had no charter or warrant, but assembled 
together and practiced the rites of Masonry by 
virtue of the rights inherent in them as Masons. 
This is fully apparent by extracts from the Diary 
of Elias Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary, who 
says, speaking under date of October, 1646: "I 
was made a Freemason at Warrington, Lanca- 
shire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring, of Ker- 
thingham, in Cheshire, by Mr. Eichard Penket, 
the Warden, and the Fellow-crafts." Under date 
of the 10th of March, 1682, when speaking of 
another meeting that day at Mason's Hall, Lon- 
don, he says: "I was the Senior Fellow among 



ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE LODGE. 79 

theni, it being thirty-five years since I was admit- 
ted. There were present, besides myself, the 
Fellows after named/' detailing the names of 
those who were present on that occasion. 

Some have understood by the terms "Fellow- 
crafts" and "Fellow," used above, that the degree 
of Fellow-craft Mason is intended. We do not 
think so. We are of opinion that these terms 
were used in the same manner as we now use the 
words Craftsmen, Craft, and Brethren, referring 
in fact to the fraternity as a body. So that when 
Ashmole uses the term "Fellow-crafts" in the 
first extract, it is synonymous with our modern 
expression, Brother Masons; and in the second 
extract, where he says, "I was the Senior Fellow 
among them," it is the same as saying, "I was the 
oldest Brother, or Mason, among them." 

We are strengthened in this opinion by the fol- 
lowing extract from what are called "The Ancient 
Installation Charges," whose date is uncertain, 
though reputed to be very old, contained in a 
manuscript written during the reign of James II. 
"Ye shall call all Masons your Fellows, or your 
Brethren, and no other names." And again: "Ye 
shall not take your Fellow's wife in villainy," etc. 

So in what are termed the "Constitutions of 
Edward III.," who reigned between 1327 and 
1377, is to be found the following: "That Entered 
Apprentices at their making, were charged not to 
be thieves or thieves-maintainers ; that they should 
travel [should not this word be spelled travail, 



80 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

meaning work?] honestly for their pay, and love 
their Fellows as themselves/' etc. 

In the ancient manuscript discovered by Mr. 
Halliwell in the Eoyal Library of the British 
Museum, which evidently contains the Gothic or 
York Constitutions, adopted at the General As- 
sembly of Masons, held at York in 926, in the 
reign of King Athelstane, are found the following : 

"Ny no pregedysse lie shall not do 
To his mayster, ny his fellowes also." 

And in another place in the same work : 

"Thou schal not by thy maystres wyf ly, 
Ny by thy felowes." 

In these last two extracts it is expressly admit- 
ted by Masonic writers that the term " Fellowes " 
refers to the whole body of the craft. 

In 1717 Masonry had declined very much in 
England, especially in the southern part, so that 
there were only four Lodges meeting in the City 
of London. These were commonly known by the 
signs of the taverns at which they held their meet- 
ings, as the Lodges meeting at the Apple-tree 
Tavern, at the Goose and Gridiron, the Crown, 
and the Bummer and Grapes. Taking into con- 
sideration the decline in Masonry, the Lodges 
agreed to revive the Grand Lodge, which was 
accordingly done on the 24th of June, 1717, by 
the election of a Grand Master and other officers, 
when the following regulation was adopted: 

"That the privilege of assembling as Masons, 



ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE LODGE. 81 

which had been hitherto unlimited, should be 
vested in certain Lodges or assemblies of Masons, 
convened in certain places ; and that every Lodge 
to be hereafter convened, except the four old 
Lodges at this time existing, should be legally 
authorized to act by a warrant from the Grand 
Master for the time being, granted to certain indi- 
viduals by petition, with the consent and approba- 
tion of the Grand Lodge in communication; and 
that without such warrant, no Lodge should be 
hereafter deemed regular or constitutional." 

It is under this regulation that all regular 
Lodges are now required to be formed and au- 
thorized to work by dispensation or charter. 

In 1721 the Grand Lodge approved of "the 
General Eegulations first compiled by Mr. George 
Payne, Anno 1720, when he was Grand Master." 
A perusal of them will satisfy the Masonic student 
that at that time the body of the craft were still 
Entered Apprentices. The degrees of Fellow-craft 
and Master Mason were not conferred by the 
Lodges, but only in the Grand Lodge, except by 
dispensation of the Grand Master. No one but a 
Fellow-craft could be elected Warden, whilst the 
brother who was elected Master of the Lodge 
must have previously served as a Warden, and 
then received the degree of Master Mason as a 
necessary adjunct to his office of Master.* 

*The ancient charges, inserted before, see page 17, say: 
" No Brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part 
of a Fellow-craft: nor a Master, until he has acted as a 



82 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

As our limits are intended to be brief, we extract 
so much of the General Eegulations as bear upon 
the question under consideration : 

"XIII. At the said Quarterly Communication 
[of the Grand Lodge] all matters that concern 
the Fraternity in general, or particular Lodges, 
or single brethren, are quietly, sedately, and ma- 
turely to be discoursed of; Apprentices must be 
admitted Masters and Fellow-crafts only here, 
unless by dispensation," etc. 

iC The Treasurer and Secretary shall have each a 
clerk, who must be a Brother and Fellow-craft," etc. 

"Another Brother (who must be a Fellow-craft) 
should be appointed to look after the door of the 
Grand Lodge," etc. 

"XVIII. If the Deputy Grand Master be sick, or 
necessarily absent, the Grand Master may choose 
any Fellow-craft he pleases to be his Deputy pro 
tempore," etc. 

"XXXVII. Then [that is after the election of a 
Grand Master and other officers of the Grand 
Lodge at the Annual Communication] the Grand 
Master shall allow any Brother, Fellow-craft, or 
Apprentice to speak, directing his discourse to his 
Worship ; or to make any motion for the good of 
the Fraternity, which shall be either immediately 

Warden ; nor Grand Warden, until he has been Master of a 
Lodge; nor Grand Master, unless he has been a Fellow-craft 
before his election," etc. 



ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE LODGE. 83 

considered and finished, or else referred to the 
consideration of the Grand Lodge at their next 
communication, stated or occasional." 

"XXXIX. Every Annual Grand Lodge has an 
inherent power and authority to make new regu- 
lations, or to alter these, for the real benefit of 
this ancient Fraternity : Provided always that the 
old landmarks be carefully preserved, and that 
such alterations and new regulations be proposed 
and agreed to at the third Quarterly Communica- 
tion preceding the Annual Grand Feast; and that 
they be offered also to the perusal of all the 
brethren before dinner, in writing, even of the 
youngest Apprentice ; the approbation and consent 
of the majority of all the brethren present being 
absolutely necessary to make the same binding 
and obligatory." 

Another extract and we will close our authori- 
ties. It is from Oliver's " Eevelations of a Square :" 

"About this time I had the high honor of wit- 
nessing some regal initiations. His Eoyal High- 
ness, Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorrain, received 
the two first degrees of Masonry at the Hague, 
by virtue of a deputation from Lord Lovel, Grand 
Master of a Lodge there, of which Dr. Desaguliers 
was the Master; and subsequently he was raised to 
the third degree, along with his Grace, the Duke 
of Newcastle, at Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, the 
seat of Sir Eobert Walpole. This was in 1731. 
A few years after, viz., on the 15th November, 
1757, an occasional Lodge was opened at Kew, 



84 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

Dr. Desaguliers being the Master, and Brothers 
Gofton and King the Wardens, where his Koyal 
Highness, Frederick, Prince of Wales, received 
the two first degrees, and in due time was raised 
to the degree of a Master Mason in the same place 
and by the same officers, although it was not usual 
to raise a brother in a private Lodge, nor in Grand 
Lodge, till he was elected to the chair. The Grand 
Master, however, had the power of dispensing with 
this rule, and also of making Masons when and 
where he pleased." 

These extracts abundantly prove that the great 
body of the craft were Entered Apprentice Masons, 
with a sprinkling of Fellow-crafts and Master 
Masons, and it is also manifest that Entered Ap- 
prentices had a right to sit in Grand Lodge, speak, 
make motions, and vote. The subordinate Lodges 
conferred the degree of Entered Apprentice, while 
those who wished to obtain the degrees of Fellow- 
craft and Master Mason had to resort to the Grand 
Lodge for that purpose. 

The regulations were amended from time to 
time, as necessity required, and in 1754 they were 
republished as amended, and solemnly approved 
by the Grand Lodge. In this amended code we 
find the latter half of Article XIII, of the old 
regulations of 1721, published as Article X, with 
an amendment as follows : 

"Art. X. Apprentices must be admitted Fellow- 
crafts and Masters only here, unless by dispensa- 
tion from the Grand Master. . ( Old 'Regulations^) 



i 

ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE LODGE. 85 

"This being attended with many inconven- 
iences, it was ordained, on November 22, 1725 : 
The Master of a Lodge, with his Wardens and a 
competent number of the Lodge, assembled in due 
form, can make Masters and Fellows at discretion. 
(N. B., Article 13.") 

Here the Grand Lodge surrenders to the subor- 
dinate Lodges the right to confer the two addi- 
tional degrees, and the Lodges from this period 
consisted of bodies of Masons conferring the three 
degrees of Masonry; but they still opened in the 
Entered Apprentice degree, and in it transacted 
all business, except such as belonged peculiarly to 
the two higher degrees. Petitions for initiation 
and membership were presented and voted upon, 
appropriations out of the Lodge funds made, and 
officers elected at the appointed times, every En- 
tered Apprentice having as good a right to vote 
in the Lodge on such occasions as a Master Mason 
had; with this exception, however, that none but 
Master Masons could be elected to office in the 
Lodge, for obvious reasons; and we are informed 
by a distinguished Mason, who has traveled exten- 
sively in Great Britain and Ireland, and visited 
many Lodges in those countries, that the Entered 
Apprentice's degree was the general business de- 
gree of all the Lodges he visited, and they were 
only opened in the Fellow-crafts' and Masters' 
degrees when appropriate business, such as pass- 
ing and raising, etc., was to be done. 

So it was on this continent until about 1843, 



86 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

the time of the assembling of the Baltimore Con- 
vention. After that body had adjourned, the 
custom was gradually introduced into the Grand 
Lodges of requiring all business, except conferring 
the two first degrees, to be done in a Master 
Mason's Lodge. This was really denying Entered 
Apprentices and Fellow-crafts all right to par- 
ticipate in the business of the Lodge so long as 
they remain Entered Apprentices and Fellow- 
crafts. 

The consequences resulting from this rule we 
think have not been beneficial to the craft. It 
has had the effect to force initiates into the third 
degree before they were properly grounded in the 
preceding ones. They are drilled until they can 
pass muster, and that is supposed to be all that is 
necessary. It has had the same effect on them 
that the gardeners' forcing-beds and hot-houses 
have upon plants and vegetables : giving them an 
unnatural precocity, but a weak and unhealthy 
growth. The element of time, so necessary to 
produce a vigorous and healthful development 
in every thing, mind as well as matter, is want- 
ing, and in most cases the result has been to 
produce a general haziness in regard to Masonic 
principles. 

On the other hand, if permitted to participate in 
the general business of the Lodge in the Entered 
Apprentice degree, the young Mason finds a home 
in the Lodge ; seeing the ordinary business done, 
he gradually becomes educated as a Mason, and 



ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE LODGE. 87 

and becomes more able to comprehend its work- 
ings, until at length, there being no necessity for 
him to hurry with hot haste into the higher de- 
grees, he gradually but surely becomes imbued 
with Masonic ideas, until, his mind being well 
stored with the necessarj?- lore, in due time he 
passes to the Fellow-craft, and is finally raised to 
the Master's degree, to become in many instances 
a bright and shining ornament in his Lodge. 

We have always opposed this innovation, and 
hope it will sooner or later be abandoned. Ohio 
has returned to the old paths, and we rejoice that 
she has done so. So great is the evil resulting 
from this innovation, that in some jurisdictions 
they even deny that an Entered Apprentice or a 
Fellow-craft is a Mason ; they refuse to converse 
with him or recognize him in any way, saying no 
one is a Mason until he has taken the third degree ! 
Besides, the constantly recurring necessity of open- 
ing from one degree into another is troublesome 
and confusing to the Lodge. 

We hold it to be highly proper that where una- 
nimity is required in the election of persons for 
initiation and membership, the Entered Appren- 
tice should have a voice in saying who shall asso- 
ciate with him. It appears to us also highly 
proper that he. should have a vote in the appro- 
priations of money from the funds to which he 
has contributed. And certainly it is correct he 
should have the right of choosing by his vote 
those who are to rule over and govern him. And 



00 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

this can be done by returning to the ancient cus- 
tom of the fraternity, universally followed until 
about twenty years ago, by making the Entered 
Apprentice's degree the ordinary business degree 
of the Lodge. 



E. APPRENTICE, F. CRAFT, AND M. MASONS. 89 



CHAPTER VII. 

OF ENTERED APPRENTICE, FELLOW-CRAFT, 
AND MASTER MASONS. 

It will be seen by the foregoing sketch that the 
rights of Entered Apprentices and Fellow-crafts 
at present have been very much abridged. 

1. They now have the right of membership in 
their particular Lodges in this State, and may be 
required to pay annual dues. 

2. They have the right of visiting and sitting in 
Lodges opened in their particular degrees. 

3. They have the right to be advanced to higher 
degrees, having made proficiency in the preceding 
one to the satisfaction of the Lodge, and being 
found worthy by the ballot. 

4. They have a right to be tried for any alleged 
Masonic offense by their peers, subject to an appeal 
to the Grand Lodge. 

5. Being members of the Lodge, and contributing 
to its funds by annual contributions, if in distress, 
they are entitled to relief from those funds; and 

6. They have a right to dimit from membership 
in their Lodges and to join others. 

OF MASTER MASONS. 

The privileges of Master Masons are much more 
extensive. 

1. In common with Entered Apprentices and 



y(j MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

Fellow-crafts, they have the right of membership 
in their particular Lodges, being required to pay 
annual dues. 

2. They have the right of visiting other Lodges. 
This, as we have already said (page 67), is not an 
absolute right. When a Mason visits a Lodge it 
is by the permission and courtesy of that body; 
and if the Master thinks that the presence of any 
visitor will disturb the harmony of the Lodge, it 
is not only his right but his duty to refuse him 
admittance, as we have already observed. If the 
visitor be not personally known by some Mason 
present, who can vouch for his Masonic character 
and standing, previous to admission, he must be 
examined by a committee appointed by the pre- 
siding officer of the Lodge he wishes to visit. 
As the object of the examination is to ascertain 
whether or not the applicant is a Mason, and as 
such worthy of being admitted into the Lodge, it 
must be conducted in such manner as will not 
afford the applicant any hint of the answers ex- 
pected from him to the several questions that may 
be propounded. As it is not known that he is a 
Mason, and may be an impostor, seeking to impose 
himself on the fraternity, the examination should 
be what may be termed "a strict trial."* Pre- 

*The 6th ancient charge says: "You are cautiously to 
examine him, in such method as prudence shall direct you, 
that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant, false pre- 
tender, whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, 
and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge." 



MASTER MASONS. 91 

baratory to the examination, the visitor is required 
to take, in the presence of the committee, what is 
called the Tyler's oath, because it is commonly 
administered in the Tyler's room, and the com- 
mittee may be required by the visitor to take it 
with him. It is usually given as follows, each 
holding the Bible in his right hand : 

"I, A B, do hereby and hereon solemnly and sin- 
cerely swear that I have been regularly initiated, 
passed, and raised to the sublime degree of a Mas- 
ter Mason in a just and legally constituted Lodge 
of such; that I do not now stand susj)ended or 
expelled ; and know of no reason why I should not 
hold Masonic communication with my brethren." 

3. They have the right of vouching that another 
brother is a Mason in good standing, which will 
enable him to visit the Lodge without examina- 
tion; but this avouchment should be exercised 
with great caution, and only in the following 
cases: 

(1.) A Mason may vouch for another when he 
has sat with him in a Lodge opened in the degree 
to which the avouchal refers. 

(2.) Or when he makes said avouchal after a 
strict personal examination of the visitor, made 
by himself, or by another in his presence. 

(3.) Or when he has received him as such from 
some known and experienced brother who vouched 
for his Masonic standing. 

The first and second of these are certainly the 
safest and most satisfactory; but then the brother 



92 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

making it should be well satisfied that his recol- 
lection of the fact is distinct. If he has the least 
doubt on his mind, or if he has only a vague idea 
that he has somewhere seen him in a Lodge, he 
should not make the avouchment. In the last 
case the three persons ought to be together when 
the avouchment is made, so that there may be no 
question of identity of the individual thus vouched 
for. If one Mason tells another that A B is a 
Master Mason, and that he has sat in a Lodge of 
such with him, or examined him masonically, there 
may be some question as to the identity of the 
individual referred to. One of them may be refer- 
ring to one person, and the other to a different 
person; or there may be two individuals of the 
same name. But when all three are present to- 
gether no such doubt can exist. Besides the value 
of the last avouchment upon private examination 
will depend a great deal upon the character and 
Masonic experience of the person making it, 
whether he is a skillful and experienced Mason, 
or the contrary. No letters of introduction, writ- 
ten avouchment, or diploma will do, as they may 
be forged or stolen. 

4. They have the right of relief when in distress 
and found worthy. The itinerant, professional 
Masonic beggar (for we must confess the craft 
has too long been bled pecuniarily by these blood- 
suckers) should be rejected, because they are bad 
men and, what is worse, bad Masons. They are 
unworthy, and therefore not entitled to relief. 



MASTER MASONS. 93 

The suspended and expelled Mason and the had 
man are likewise not entitled to apply for assist- 
ance. 'This right of relief should only be extended 
to worthy Masons in distress, who should be re- 
lieved according to the necessity of the case and 
the ability of the giver. But this right of relief 
goes still further than to the individual Mason 
himself. The distressed widows and orphans of 
deceased worthy Masons, being themselves worthy, 
have peculiar claims upon the fraternity of a 
higher and holier character, which should never 
. be neglected. We should always consider them 
as under our peculiar care and patronage, and 
esteem it a privilege to minister to their wants, 
and exercise a guardian care and protection over 
them, as long as it is needful. 

5. They have the right of being dimitted from 
their Lodge. To dimit means to send out, to 
depart, or to go forth; it is derived from the Latin 
word dimittere, and is the term used when a Mason 
is discharged from membership in his Lodge. The 
evidence of the discharge is the certificate of the 
Lodge, signed by the Secretary, having its seal 
attached, certifying that the Brother whose name 
is mentioned therein, having paid all Lodge dues 
and demands, and being in good standing, is no 
longer a member of the Lodge. This certificate 
is usually but erroneously called a Dimit. 

The act of dimission dissolves all connection 
between the particular Brother and the Lodge 
of which he is a member, and he then ceases to 



94 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

belong to that particular Lodge, though he is still 
a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has be- 
come a non-affiliated Mason. The ancient charges 
say: "A Lodge is a place where Masons assemble 
and work; hence that assembly, or duly organized 
society of Masons, is called a Lodge, and every 
Brother ought to belong to one, and to be subject 
to its by-laws and the General Eegulations." Now, 
whilst Masonry is a voluntary association, and we 
recognize the right of a Mason, at any time, to 
sever his connection with his Lodge, and become 
non-affiliated, yet we think, with these ancient 
charges, that he ought to belong to some Lodge, 
and contribute to its funds by paying his annual 
dues thereto, even if he ceases to be an active 
member. If, from the nature of his business or 
age, he finds it necessary to cease visiting it, he 
can by his contributions still enable it to relieve 
the distressed worthy Brother, his widow, and 
orphans. But we must confess that the evil of 
non-affiliation is a crying one. There are thou- 
sands of Masons in the land who contribute noth- 
ing to the funds of the Lodge, and give it. no 
countenance. The Masonic feeling appears to be 
dead within them; they are as purely Masonic 
fossils as are the vast masses of zoophytic remains 
imbedded in the stony strata of the earth's surface, 
evidencing by their forms that they once lived 
and breathed ages ago, but that the vitalizing 
influences that once animated them have departed. 
6. They have the same right of trial for any 



MASTER MASONS. 95 

alleged Masonic offense by their peers that Entered 

Apprentices and Fellow-crafts have, subject to an 
appeal to the Grand Lodge. And lastly, 

7. They, and they only, have the right of Ma- 
sonic burial. 

The rule laid down by Preston, in his Illustra- 
tions of Masonry, is: 

" ]STo Mason can be interred with the formalities 
of the order unless it be at his own special request, 
communicated to the Lodge of which he died a 
member, foreigners and sojourners excepted ; nor 
unless he has been advanced to the third degree 
of Masonry, from which restriction there can be 
no exception. Fellow-crafts and Apprentices are 
not entitled to the funeral obsequies." 

Whilst this rule prevails in this country, it has 
also become customary, where a Master Mason in 
good standing, a member of a Lodge, dies without 
making such request, he shall be buried with Ma- 
sonic funeral honors, if it be desired by his nearest 
relatives, or friends. As the rule laid down above 
requires the request for a Masonic burial to be 
made to the Master of the Lodge of which the 
deceased was a member at the time of his death, 
it follows that a non-affiliated Mason is not entitled 
to such funeral obsequies. The proper Masonic 
clothing on such occasions is a black or dark dress, 
with white aprons and gloves, accompanied by the 
sprig of evergreen. 



96 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 

The meetings of the Lodge, usually termed 
communications, are stated or regular meetings, 
and called meetings or meetings of emergency. 

1. The stated meetings are those that take place 
at the times specified in the by-laws. These occur 
ordinarily once a month, but in some Lodges, more 
especially in cities, they take place every two 
weeks. 

"We would remark here, that as it is the duty 
of the Master to draw designs on the trestle-board 
and set the craft to labor, he has the right to pre- 
sent the business of the Lodge in such order as in 
his judgment shall most conduce to the interests 
of the Lodge. It follows, therefore, that the order 
of business is entirely within his power, and all 
provisions of the by-laws of any Lodge which 
prescribe the particular order in which the busi- 
ness shall be brought up, are infringements upon 
the prerogative of the Master. 

We would, however, advise that immediately 
after the ceremony of opening the Lodge, which 
should be done in as full and solemn a manner as 
our rites justify, for the instruction of the younger, 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 97 

members and the edification of the older ones, that 
the minutes of the preceding monthly stated and 
all intervening meetings should be read by the 
Secretary. Two objects are accomplished by this, 
the correction of any errors that may have been 
committed by the Secretary in making out the 
record, and bringing to view any unfinished busi- 
ness that may remain for its action. And here 
we would suggest that if the Secretary, previous 
to the stated meeting, would prepare a list of all 
business that he knows should come up for action 
at that meeting, and present it to the Master, it 
would greatly facilitate matters. 

We have already said that it is the prerogative 
of the Master to bring before the Lodge its busi- 
ness in such manner as will be most advantageous. 
Ordinarily we would recommend the following 

ORDER OF BUSINESS. 

1. Opening ceremonies; 

2. Eeading the minutes of the last stated month- 
ly and subsequent meetings, if any; 

3. Presentation of petitions and reference; 

4. Eeports of committees on such petitions as 
have been previously presented and laid over at 
least one lunar month ; 

5. Balloting on such petitions as have been re- 
ported on; 

6. Initiations, passings, or raisings, as may be; 

7. Eeports of standing committees; 

8. Eeports of select committees; 



98 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

9. Unfinished business; 

10. New business; 

11. Closing ceremonies. 

Some Lodges put the conferring of degrees as 
the last in the order of business. The impolicy 
of this arrangement will be obvious when we 
reflect that many of the questions presented under 
our 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th heads frequently give 
rise to debates of considerable length, during 
which the candidate is kept in the antechamber, 
awaiting patiently or impatiently, according to 
his temperament, the leisure of the Lodge, whose 
time is too often taken up by long-winded discus- 
sions, until many of the members become wearied 
with the debate, and leave the Lodge-room, and 
if degrees are conferred at all it is late in the 
night, and in the presence of a very thin Lodge, 
and frequently in a hurried manner. Our Lodges 
are not designed for debating societies, and breth- 
ren should not consume the time in useless discus- 
sions or hair-splitting arguments. 

It is true it is in the power of the Master of the 
Lodge to terminate the debate, whenever he thinks 
it necessary to do so, by rising and putting the 
question to the Lodge; but through delicacy of 
mind, a fear of hurting some Brother's feelings by 
cutting off his speech, or of encroaching on the 
rights of his brethren, a Master of a Lodge is too 
frequently induced to let the debate go on too 
long. ]STow, by bringing on the conferring of 
degrees earlier in the evening, many of these 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 99 

difficulties are avoided, and the candidates receive 
the degrees in a better manner, the work not 
being done in a hurried and slovenly style for 
want of time. 

To carry on the business of the Lodge in an 
efficient manner, it is necessary that the presiding 
officer should not only be well acquainted with 
what are usually called legislative rules of order, 
but should promptly apply them when necessary. 
As some of them, however, interfere with the pre- 
rogatives of the Master of a Lodge, it becomes 
important to ascertain how far these legislative 
rules of order may be safely used in the Lodge. 
Brother B. B. French, of Washington City, a very 
distinguished Mason, has already examined this 
question so fully that nothing better can be said, 
and we therefore extract from an article of his 
published in the American Review of Freema- 
sonry, vol. i, page 320 : 

"No body of men, no matter how small or how 
well disposed to be orderly it may be, can be kept 
in order for the transaction of business, and the 
debate which necessarily accompanies it, without 
a presiding officer; and no presiding officer, be his 
talent and capacity for presiding what they may, 
can keep order unless he be governed by fixed 
rules and principles, admitted to be binding by 
those over whom he presides. Therefore, we find 
the custom to be universal, after the organization 
of any assembly of individuals, of adopting rules 
for its government, by which they impose a duty 



100 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

on their presiding officer of administering, and on 
themselves of obeying, the rules thus made. In 
ordinary public bodies these rules are temporary, 
lasting only during the legal existence of the body 
which they are formed to govern. The House of 
Eepresentatives of the United States becomes a 
new legislative body every two years, and is only 
governed by the general parliamentary law until 
either the rules of the preceding House are adopted 
or a new code formed. The Senate, being a per- 
manent body, is always governed by the same 
rules until it sees fit to alter or renew them. 

"Masonic bodies are somewhat like the Senate 
in this latter particular. When once formed, they 
remain Lodges, Chapters, Councils, Commanderies, 
or Encampments forever. Therefore the rules 
and regulations by which they are to be governed 
ought to be permanent and uniform. I have no- 
ticed within a few years a new feature adopted by 
some of the governing Masonic bodies in the form- 
ation of 'model by-laws,' on which subordinates 
are to found their codes. This is an excellent 
plan, inasmuch as it tends to create a uniformity 
of government in the jurisdiction wherein it oper- 
ates. But by-laws are one thing, and rules of 
government, while the body is assembled for busi- 
ness, another. 

"My design in this paper is to present my own 
views in relation to the application of regular 
parliamentary law, so far as it will apply, to the 
government of Masonic bodies. 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 101 

"The term parliamentary law originated by 
being the designation of the peculiar law which 
governed and governs the proceedings of the 
British Parliament. Laws and rules adopted by 
that high body became by degrees the governing 
law of all deliberative assemblies so far as they 
would apply, and as soon as our forefathers so far 
established governments on this side of the Atlan- 
tic as to need rules and regulations, they adopted 
those of the mother country, and thus the law of 
Parliament — the Lex Parliament aria — became in 
a measure the governing law of American delib- 
erative assemblies, and 'the law of Parliament' 
has come to be a general term, applicable to all 
well-established rules and regulations adopted by 
legislatures. 

"The dictum of Hat-sell — the best English au- 
thority on precedents extant — that 'it is much 
more material that there should be a rule to go 
by than what that rule is,' is a sound principle, 
and applies as well to the government of a Ma- 
sonic Lodge as to the House of Commons of Great 
Britain. 

"All regular meetings of Masonic bodies are 
fixed by their by-laws, and the records of the 
body should always show either that the meeting 
was held, or the reason why it was not. It is well 
known to every well-informed Freemason that a 
certain number must be present before a Lodge 
can be opened, and that it requires also the pres- 
ence of certain officers; therefore no parliamentary 



102 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

rule applies to the convening of a Lodge. The 
rule that a faithful record shall be kept of what 
is proper to be written is a Masonic one, and the 
period of no regular meeting should be suffered to 
pass, even though thp Lodge be not opened, with- 
out a statement, as full as may be, on the record- 
book, giving the facts as they occurred, that, when 
the proper inspecting officer makes his annual 
visit, he may see as well what has been omitted 
to be done that ought to have been done, and the 
reasons therefor, as what has actually been done. 

"The Lodge having been duly opened, it be- 
comes at once a deliberative assembly for any 
business that ma}^ legitimately come before it. 
The Master is the presiding officer, and the floor 
is open, under the restrictions of the by-laws, to 
any member who may desire to submit any prop- 
osition proper for consideration. And here the 
parliamentary rules apply in all their force. 

"I will here quote those rules, substituting the 
words 'Master' and i Brother' for speaker and mem- 
her. 

"When the Master is seated in his chair, every 
Brother is to sit in his place. 

"When any Brother means to speak, he is to 
stand up in his place, and to address himself, not 
to the Lodge or any particular Brother, but to the 
Master, who calls him by his name, that the Lodge 
may take notice who it is that speaks. 

"When a Brother stands up to speak, no ques- 
tion is to be put, but he is to be heard. 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 103 

"[This rule closes with the words, 'unless the 
house overrule him.' It is not customary or proper 
for a Lodge to overrule any Brother in debate. 
If the Master deem the debate irrelevant, he has 
full power to call the Brother to order and to keep 
him within the bounds of order, or to silence him, 
in a manner known only to Masons. From the 
Master's decision there is no appeal to the Lodge.] 

"If two or more brethren rise to speak, nearly 
together, the Master determines who was first up, 
and calls him by name, whereupon he proceeds, 
unless he voluntarily sits down and gives way to 
the other. 

" [Here again the House can overrule the Speak- 
er, and, if called upon, decide which member was 
first up. But the Lodge can not overrule the 
Master.] 

"By the parliamentary law, no one may speak 
more than once to the same question on the same 
day. This is a very wholesome provision, and 
unless there be some particular provision in the 
by-laws touching this point, it would be well for 
the Master, when he thinks precious time is being 
wasted in debate, to enforce it. This is a matter, 
however, that I consider altogether discretionary 
with the Master, and in which he should always 
be governed by the peculiar circumstances of the 
time. Explanation as to what has been said is 
always permitted. 

"If the Master rises to speak, the Brother stand- 
ing up ought to sit down, that he may be first heard. 



104 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

"No one is to speak impertinently or beside the 
question, superfluously or tediously. 

"]STo one is to disturb another in his speech by 
hissing, coughing, spitting, speaking, or whisper- 
ing to another, nor to stand up or interrupt him, 
nor to pass between the Master and the speaking 
Brother, nor to go across the Lodge-room, nor to 
walk up and down it. 

"If a Brother in debate use any improper lan- 
guage, any Brother may call him to order if the 
Master do not; and if there is any dispute as to 
the language used, it would be well to have the 
language taken down by the Brother calling to 
order, that the Master may consider it carefully 
before coming to a decision. 

"As the rules of Freemasonry allow no appeal 
from the decision of the Master to the Lodge, it 
behooves every Master to make his decisions with 
great care and after full consideration; and, al- 
though no appeal can be taken, the Master may, 
before his decision, ask experienced members of 
the Lodge to aid him with their opinions, and 
they are bound to respond. The Master may, if 
he see fit, express an opinion to the Lodge, and 
ask its advice, prior to making his decision. 

"[This was done by M. E. Grand Master of 
Knights Templar at the triennial meeting of 1856, 
at Hartford, prior to the adoption of the new con- 
stitution, admitting an appeal from the Grand 
Master's decision.] 

"Any Brother may present a petition to the 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 105 

Lodge, if properly signed and vouched, at the time 
when petitions are in order, under the by-laws, or 
he may hand it to the Secretary and have it pre- 
sented through him. After it is received, it is for 
the Lodge to determine what is to be done with it. 
If no question is made by any Brother, the peti- 
tion is referred by the Master, as a matter of 
course, and when reported upon the report is open 
to amendment and debate, and to final action by 
the body to which it is made. 

"Upon the presentation of a petition, any Bro- 
ther may raise the question of reception, and in 
that case the Master is bound to put the question, 
'Shall the petition be received?' If not received, 
no further action can be had relative to it, and it 
remains in the hands of the one who presented 
it, to be disposed of as he thinks proper. 

"Much of the work of Masonic bodies is initiated 
by committees. No application for membership 
should be acted upon until it has been referred to 
a special committee and reported upon to the body. 
And this should not be a mere formal matter, for 
strict inquiry and investigation into the character 
and moral standing of all applicants is the greatest 
safeguard of the Masonic institution. 

" There should be but few standing committees 
in Masonic bodies. A Committee of Stewards and 
a Committee of Accounts are generally all that are 
necessary. Some Lodges have a Standing Com- 
mittee on Charity, but as every application for 
charity should be speedily and thoroughly investi- 



106 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

gated, it seems to me better that it should be 
placed in charge of a special committee, the mem- 
bers of which will always be present and attend 
at once to their duty. 

" ' Committees of the Whole ' are utterly out of 
place in a Masonic body. Lodges can only do 
business with the Master in the chair; for, let who 
will preside, he is, while occupying the chair, 
Master — invested with supreme command, and 
emphatically 'governs the Lodge.' Any commit- 
tee presupposes a 'chairman,' and no Freemason 
would feel at home were he presided over by a 
'chairman!' This single fact is conclusive, and 
yet I have seen in my day a Masonic body pre- 
tending to be in Committee of the Whole! I 
raised my voice against it, and believe I convinced 
my brethren that they were wrong. 

"Every committee should take all the time that 
may be necessary to investigate the subject re- 
ferred to it, and, except in cases where a written 
report may be improper, should report in writing. 
If there are no by-laws prescribing the time when 
committees may report, their reports are always 
in order when the body is not specially engaged 
in transacting other business. 

"Committees may be appointed by a vote of the 
body; but it is usual and, unless for some special 
reason, best, that they should be appointed by the 
•Master. The first one named on the committee is 
always chairman, and it is usual for him to make 
the report, although he may delegate that duty to 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 107 

any other member of the committee. The report 
may be made either by the organ of the commit- 
tee, from the floor, or through the Secretary, and 
as soon as made is open for debate and action. 
There is a difference, however, between accepting 
and adopting a report. If nothing is said, it is con- 
sidered as accepted as soon as made. If it closes 
with resolutions, and the report itself requires no 
definite legislation, the question is on agreeing 
to the resolutions. If the report itself embodies 
legislation, and there are also resolutions attached, 
the question is on adopting the report and agreeing 
to the resolutions. If no resolutions are attached, 
and the report recommends no action, its accept- 
ance, either tacitly or by a vote, disposes of it. 
If it require action, then a vote must be taken on 
its adoption to make it binding. If it is upon a 
petition for admission, no matter whether favora- 
ble or unfavorable, the question is on proceeding 
to ballot for the candidate, unless a motion is 
made to dispose of the report in some other 
manner. 

"Reports may be recommitted at any time be- 
fore final action upon them. 

"Motions, in a Masonic body, are governed by 
precisely the same rules as in a parliamentary 
body. Any member of the body can make a mo- 
tion, and it must be seconded by another member 
(the presiding officer can second it if he pleases) 
before it is in possession of the body. If in order, 
of which the presiding officer must be the judge, 



108 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

it is then debatable, or may be put to the question 
if no debate is offered. If the presiding officer 
require it, all motions must be put in writing 
before being acted upon. 

" Resolutions and orders are governed by precisely 
the same rules as motions; they are often only mo- 
tions reduced to writing. For instance, a Brother 
may move that the Lodge proceed to ballot for a 
candidate, or he may introduce a resolution in 
writing to do the same thing. Eesolutions gener- 
ally express opinions, and motions may apply to 
resolutions, as 'a motion to amend,' 'to lie on the 
table,' 'to postpone,' etc., but resolutions can not 
apply to motions. 

" Orders are only used when the body commands, 
as 'ordered,' that the Secretary do so and so, etc. 

"Freemasonry knows no 'previous question/ 
and no Masonic body should ever tolerate it. 

"As much of the business of regular parliament- 
ary bodies is perfected by the passage of bills, a 
great variety of questions arise therein that can 
not possibly apply in Masonic bodies. 

"The Masonic rule should be, that where well- 
settled parliamentary principles can be properly 
applied to the action of Masonic bodies, they 
should always govern; but they should never be 
introduced where they in any way interfere with 
the established customs or landmarks of Masonry, 
or with the high prerogatives of the Master." 

To these remarks add the following, from Dr. 
Mackey, and the subject is exhausted: 



OF THE MEETINGS OF THE LODGE. 109 

"When a motion has once been made and carried 
in the affirmative or negative, it is in order for any 
member who voted in the majority to move for a 
reconsideration thereof at the same communica- 
tion. 

"When an amendment is proposed, a member 
who has already spoken to the main question may 
again speak to the amendment. 

"When a blank is to be filled, and various prop- 
ositions have been made, the question must be 
taken first on the highest sum or longest time 
proposed. 

"Any member may call for a division of the 
question, which division will take place if a ma- 
jority of the members consent. 

"A motion to lie on the table is not debatable. 

"A motion to adjourn is unmasonic, and can 
not be entertained." 

2. Called meetings or meetings of emergency 
are when the members of the Lodge are called 
together for the transaction of business at other 
times than the regular stated meetings of the 
Lodge. They are entirely within the discretion 
of the Master, or, in his absence, of the Warden 
presiding, and must be held, excejDt on occasions 
of Masonic burials, at the Lodge-room. At such 
meetings no business can be transacted except 
that for which the Lodge was called, and of which 
the members should have notice. 



110 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OF OFFENSES AGAINST MASONRY. 

The ancient charges say: "A Mason is obliged 
by his tenure to obey the moral law/' etc., hence 
any violation of the moral law is an offense against 
Masonry. They also say that " a Mason is a peace- 
ful subject to the civil powers," etc., hence an 
offense against the laws of the land is also an 
offense against Masonry, for, according to Black- 
stone, it is "a breach and violation of public rights 
and duties which affects the whole community, 
considered as a community." Eut this does not 
include political or ecclesiastical offenses, because 
Masonry does not interfere with any man's polit- 
ical or religious views. The ancient charges ex- 
pressly say, " so that if a Brother should be a rebel 
against the state, he is not to be countenanced in 
his rebellion, however he may be pitied as an 
unhappy man ; and if convicted of no other crime, 
though the loyal brotherhood must and ought to 
disown his rebellion, and give no umbrage or 
ground of political jealousy to the government 
for the time being, they can not expel him from 
the Lodge, and his relation to it remains inde- 
feasible." 

A violation of any of the landmarks and regu- 



OF OFFENSES AGAINST MASONRY. Ill 

lions of Masonry is also a Masonic offense. Some 
of these offenses it is not lawful for us to define 
in this way, and as to the others it is unnecessary 
to do so, as every reflecting brother can readily 
do this for himself. 

"We will conclude this head by the general state- 
ment, that whatever is a violation of the laws of 
God, or man (with the exceptions above stated), 
or Masonry, or tends to bring shame and disgrace 
on the fraternity, or any violation of its solemn 
covenants, is to be considered as a Masonic offense. 

OF MASONIC PUNISHMENTS. 

In Kentucky there are four modes of Masonic 
punishment, viz. : censure, reprimand, suspension 
for a definite period, and expulsion. 

1. Censure. — This is the mildest form of punish- 
ment known to Masonry, and is simply the expres- 
sion by the Lodge of its disapprobation of the 
conduct of a brother, and does not affect his 
standing or rights in that body. It is usually 
expressed by the adoption of a resolution to that 
effect; and as no one should be condemned un- 
heard, notice should be given him of the intention 
to move a vote of censure at a particular meeting, 
so that he may attend and be heard in his defense: 
or the resolution may be offered and laid over 
until the next stated meeting for action, and notice 
thereof given him by the Secretary. A majority 
of the members present, on final action on the 
resolution of censure, will adopt or negative it. 



112 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

So also it is entirely competent for any member 
of the Lodge passing a vote of censure, at any 
time afterward, upon notice previously given, at a 
stated meeting, to revoke it. 

2. Reprimand. — This is a higher form of pun- 
ishment, and is inflicted by the Lodge not only 
to mark its disapprobation of the conduct of the 
offending brother, but as a merited reproof there- 
for. It should always be administered by the 
Master or presiding officer, in the presence of the 
Lodge, in an impressive manner, so as to remind 
the offender as well as the brethren that no in- 
fringement of Masonic law shall be committed 
with impunity. 

3. Suspension. — This embraces: 1. Suspension 
for a definite period; and, 2. Suspension until dues 
are paid. 

I. Suspension for a definite period. — This is a very 
serious punishment, as during the period that it 
exists it entirely cuts off or suspends the offender 
from all his rights and privileges as a Mason. He 
is in fact still a Mason, though deprived of all 
the rights and privileges of a Mason, and during 
the continuance of his punishment ceases to be a 
member of the Lodge. Eut the expiration of his 
term of suspension, whilst it relieves him from his 
disabilities, restores him to all the rights and priv- 
ileges of which he had been deprived, and he 
becomes again a member of his Lodge without 
any vote of the members taken thereon. 

II. Suspension until dues are paid. — This punish- 



OF OFFENSES AGAINST MASONRY. 113 

ment is known only to modern Lodges, and grows 
out of their peculiar organization. It is not in- 
flicted as a punishment for any offense against 
morals or Masonry. It occurs where a member 
of a Lodge has neglected, failed, or refused to pay 
his dues to the Lodge of which he is a member, for 
the length of time usually specified in its by-laws. 
These usually provide, in substance, that if a 
member be in arrears to his Lodge for a given 
time, say one year, eighteen months, or two years, 
as the case may be, he may be suspended from all 
the rights and privileges of Masonry until his 
dues are paid. 

It is usual and highly proper for the Secretary 
to notify the delinquent Brother in writing that 
he is in arrears and liable to suspension. If he 
should still fail to pay his dues, the Secretary 
notifies the Lodge of the fact, whereupon it may 
order a summons to be issued against him, requir- 
ing him to appear at the next stated meeting to 
show cause why he should not be suspended for 
non-payment of clues. At the time appointed, if 
the dues have not been paid, or a satisfactory ex- 
cuse rendered for not paying them, and it appears 
that the notice has been served on him, the Lodge 
by a majority vote may suspend him from all the 
rights and privileges of Masonry until his dues 
are paid. 

3. Expulsion. — This has very aptly been termed 
a " Masonic death.'' It is the greatest and most 
ignominious punishment that can be inflicted on 
10 



114 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

an offender, and severs all ties between him and 
the fraternity, as if he were in reality dead. It 
is only inflicted on the most flagrant offenders, 
and serves not only as a punishment to them, but 
as a safeguard to the fraternity. Hence it should 
not be inflicted for light and trivial offenses. It 
is only where the offense is of such high turpitude 
that the honor and dignity of the whole brother- 
hood requires vindication that it should be used, 
so as to show to the world that the craft will not 
countenance such deviations from the paths of 
rectitude. 

During the continuance of his suspension or 
expulsion he is not entitled to Masonic assistance 
if in distress, and if he dies, can not be buried 
with Masonic funeral honors, nor are his widow 
and orphans, if in need, entitled to call on the 
fraternity for aid. 

None of these punishments ought to be inflicted 
without a fair and impartial trial. 



OF MASONIC TRIALS. 115 



CHAPTER X. 

OF MASONIC TRIALS. 

The object of all trials is to elicit the truth. 
Therefore, in order that strict justice should be 
done, the first thing is to file a charge against the 
accused. This should be in writing, setting out 
the exact offense of which it is alleged he is guilty; 
and in order that he may have clear information 
of the nature of the offensive acts which it is 
expected will be proved against him, and that he 
may be enabled to defend himself against the 
charge, it ought to be accompanied by written spec- 
fications, setting out in plain and clear language 
the particular acts complained of, with a statement 
of the time and place of their alleged committal. 
A simple charge of unmasonic conduct is so sweep- 
ing and comprehensive that it would be almost 
impossible for a man to know what is the real 
nature of the particular act complained of. It 
would give him no clear notice of the alleged 
offense. 

The charge with its specification, or specifica- 
tions, if more than one act is complained of, should 
be signed by the accuser, and delivered to the 
Secretary, who reads it out in open Lodge, at a 



116 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

stated meeting thereof, opened in the highest de- 
gree the accused has attained. It thus becomes 
the property of the Lodge, and can not be altered 
or amended without the consent of that body, of 
which alterations or amendments the accused 
should have timely written notice. It would be 
highly improper to receive a charge against a 
brother until it is reduced to writing and signed 
as above indicated, and it should be presented and 
read at a stated meeting of the Lodge, that due 
publicity of the charge may be given to all the 
members. 

A charge against a brother may be preferred 
by any Master Mason, whether he be a member 
of the particular Lodge to which the accused 
belongs or not , but a charge by one who does not 
belong to the fraternity ought not to be enter- 
tained. Nevertheless, when it is known that cir- 
cumstances are within the knowledge of such 
person, any Master Mason may base a charge 
upon such information, and present it to the Lodge. 

After the filing and reading the charges and 
specifications in open Lodge, the question ought 
to be put whether or not it shall be prosecuted, 
for it may be that it is frivolous, or the specifica- 
tions do not set out any violation of Masonic duty. 
If the Lodge determines that it shall be investi- 
gated, the Master should appoint a committee of 
not less than three brethren to take the testimony 
against and in favor of the accused, directing the 
Secretary to furnish him with a copy of the charge 



OF MASONIC TRIALS. 117 

and specifications, and also a notice, which shall 
set out the time and place fixed for taking the 
evidence, with the names of the committee. Rea- 
sonable time should be allowed the accused by the 
committee to attend their meetings. The Sec ro- 
tary of the Lodge should also attend on the com- 
mittee, and write down the evidence, so far as it is 
proper to be written, which must be given in the 
presence of a committee, or a majority of them, 
and also of the accused and accuser, if they desire 
to be present. If by any reason the Secretary 
can not attend, then one of the committee should 
reduce the testimony to writing. 

OF WITNESSES. 

The following remarks of the Masonic editor of 
the New York Saturday Courier on this subject, 
are so clear and pertinent, and so obviously cor- 
rect, that we insert them : 

"The law of the land, which in this instance 
[Masonic trials] is the same as the law of Ma 7 
sonry, has declared the following classes as incom- 
petent to give evidence : 

"1. Persons who have not the use of reason 
are, from the infirmity of their nature, considered 
to be utterly incapable of giving evidence. This 
class includes idiots, madmen, and children too 
young to be sensible of the obligations of an oath 
and to distinguish between good and evil. 

u 2. Persons who are entirely devoid of any such 
religious principle or belief as w^ould bind their 



118 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

consciences to speak the truth are incompetent as 
witnesses. Hence, the evidence of an atheist must 
be rejected, because, as it has been well said, such 
person can not be subject to that sanction which 
is deemed an indispensable test of truth. But as 
Masonry does not demand of its candidates any 
other religious declaration than that of a belief in 
God, it can not require of the witnesses in its 
trials any profession of a more explicit faith. But 
even here it seems to concur with the law of the 
land. 

"3. Persons who have been rendered infamous 
by their conviction of great crimes are deemed 
incompetent to give evidence. 

"4. Persons interested in the result of the trial 
are considered incompetent to give evidence. 
From the nature of human actions and passions, 
and from the fact that all persons, even the most 
virtuous, are unconsciously swayed by motives of 
interest, the evidence of such person is rather to be 
distrusted than believed. This rule will perhaps be 
generally difficult of application in Masonic trials, 
although in a civil suit at law it is easj^ to define 
what is the interest of a party sufficient to render 
his evidence incompetent. 

"But whenever it is clearly apparent that the 
interests of a witness would be greatly benefited 
by either the acquittal or conviction of the accused, 
his testimony must be entirely rejected, or if ad- 
mitted, its value must be weighed with the most 
scrupulous caution. 



OF MASONIC TRIALS. 119 

"The peculiar isolated character of the Masonic 
institution here suggests an important question, 
whether it is admissible to take the testimony of a 
person who is not a Freemason in the trial of a 
Mason before his Lodge. Such testimony, we 
think, is generally admissible, but as there are 
special cases in which it is not, it is proper we 
should state the grounds and reasons for this 
admissibility, and the mode and manner in which 
such testimony is to be taken. 

"The great object of every trial in Masonry, as 
elsewhere, is to elicit truth, and in the spirit 
of truth to administer justice. From whatever 
source, therefore, this truth can be obtained, it is 
not only competent to seek it, but it is obligatory 
on us to do so. This is a principle of law as well 
as common sense. 

"Now, if A, who is a Freemason, shall have 
committed an offense, of which B and C alone 
were cognizant as witnesses, shall it be said that 
A must be acquitted for want of proof, because B 
and C are not members of the society? If such 
were the case, the ends of justice will be defeated 
rather than subserved. If the veracity of B and 
C are unimpeached, their testimony as to the fact 
can not be rejected on any ground except that 
they may be interested in the result of the trial, 
and might be benefited by the conviction or the 
acquittal of the defendant. 

"Any other rule would be attended with inju- 
rious consequences to our institution. We will 



120 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

suppose a case: A, who is a member of a Lodge, 
is accused of habitual intemperance, a vice emi- 
nently unmasonic in its character, and one which 
will always reflect a great portion of the degra- 
dation of the offender upon the society which 
shall sustain and defend him in its perpetra- 
tion. If, then, a dozen or more men, all of repu- 
tation and veracity, should come, or be brought 
before the Lodge, ready and willing to testify 
to this fact, by what process of reason or jus- 
tice, or under what maxim of Masonic jurispru- 
dence, could their testimony be rejected, simply 
because they were not Masons ? The world would 
not and could not appreciate the cause which led 
to the rejection of such clear and unimpeachable 
testimony, and would visit with its just reproba- 
tion the institution which could thus extend its 
fraternal affection to the support of undoubted 
guilt. 

"It must, however, be noted that the testimony 
of persons who are not Masons is not to be given 
as that of Masons is, within the precincts of the 
Lodge. They are not to be present at the trial, 
and whatever testimony they have to adduce must 
be taken by a committee, to be afterwards accu- 
rately reported to the Lodge. But in all cases the 
accused has a right to be present and interrogate 
the witnesses. 

" The testimony of Masons is to be taken either 
in Lodge or in committee, and under the sanction 
of their obligation. The testimony of profanes is 



OF MASONIC TRIALS. 121 

always to be taken by a committee, and on oath, 
legally administered." 

We will add the following: No hearsay or 
irrelevant matter should be permitted by the 
committee or the Lodge to be given as testi- 
mony ; but whatever may tend to elucidate and 
is pertinent to the point in issue, may be intro- 
duced ; and in general the legal rules of evidence 
should govern the taking of testimony. 

The accused, the better to protect his interest, 
may be represented by counsel, who must be a 
Master Mason, to prepare and conduct his defense. 
He or his counsel has the right to cross-examine 
all witnesses produced against him. 

The accused should also be afforded reasonable 
opportunity to take evidence in his own behalf, at 
such other time and place as he may select (upon 
giving reasonable notice to the Master of the 
Lodge), which testimony must in the same man- 
ner be reduced to writing by the Secretary of the 
Lodge, or, in his absence, by one of the committee. 
When the testimony has been all taken, it should 
be reported to the Lodge at the next stated meet- 
ing, and if the accused is ready for trial it ought 
to be proceeded with; if not, a time should be 
fixed at which it shall take place, either at a meet- 
ing called for that express purpose or at some 
stated meeting, w T hen he shall be heard in his 
defense, either by himself or counsel, if he so de- 
sires; after which the accused and his counsel, 
if he has any, shall retire, unless his counsel be a 
11 



122 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

member of the Lodge, in which case he can not 
be excluded. The Master will then put the ques- 
tion to the Lodge, whether the accused is guilty 
or not of the offense set out in the charge and 
specifications, and it must be determined by the 
ballot and by a majority vote. 

If found guilty, the question then arises as to 
the nature and extent of the punishment. The 
vote is first taken on expulsion, next on suspen- 
sion, and so on to reprimand and censure, unless a 
decision be previously arrived at. These votes 
may be taken viva voce, or by a show of hands, 
which is the ancient mode. If the accused is 
expelled, notice of the fact must be forthwith sent 
to the Grand Secretary; if suspended, it must be 
for a definite period. 

The accused has a right of appeal from the 
decision of the Lodge to the Grand Lodge, 
which ought to be in writing, signed by him, 
and delivered to the Master or Secretary of the 
Lodge. 

When an appeal is taken from the decision of 
the Lodge, it is the duty of the Secretary imme- 
diately to prepare a copy of all its proceedings 
that relate to the trial, including a copy of the 
charges and specifications, notice to the accused, 
the testimony, and, in short, every part and parcel 
of the proceedings, with a copy of the action of 
the Lodge in the official proceedings, down to and 
including the appeal, and transmit the record, cer- 
tified by him as Secretary, and under the seal of 



OF MASONIC TRIALS. 123 

the Lodge, immediately to the Grand Secretary, 
to be laid before the Grand Lodge. 

Should the Grand Lodge declare the trial irreg- 
ular, and the sentence therefore illegal, the accused 
shall be replaced on his former footing in all re- 
spects, and be subject to a new trial upon the 
former or new charges. But should the Grand 
Lodge pronounce a restoration from the sentence 
of suspension or expulsion, the Brother thus re- 
stored is not replaced in his former membership in 
his Lodge. That can only be done by unanimous 
vote of the Lodge. 

A brother of any degree, being charged- with 
unmasonic conduct, shall be tried by the Lodge 
of which he is a member; or if he is not a member 
of any Lodge subordinate to the Grand Lodge, he 
shall be tried by any Lodge within whose jurisdic- 
tion he resides. In like manner a brother who is 
a member of a Lodge under the jurisdiction of the 
Grand Lodge, but resides within the jurisdiction 
of another Lodge subordinate to the Grand Lodge, 
upon being charged with unmasonic conduct, may 
be tried by the latter. 



124 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER XI. 

OF NEW TRIALS. 

The object of every trial should be to elicit the 
truth in regard to alleged offenses with which the 
accused is charged. If guilty, then to subject him 
to appropriate punishment; if innocent, to dis- 
charge him therefrom. 

If, therefore, after the trial and decision of the 
case by the Lodge, the accused deems that it has 
committed errors in its proceedings, and thereby 
injustice has been done him in the decision of his 
case, he ought to present in writing grounds for a 
new trial, setting out clearly the errors he thinks 
have been committed by the Lodge, and pray that 
a new trial be granted him. But the grounds filed 
ought to be real and substantial, not frivolous. 

Upon its presentation it should be referred to a 
committee of three able, judicious members, for 
consideration, who ought carefully to review the 
proceedings of the Lodge in the case, including the 
testimony and alleged errors, and report thereon 
at the next stated meeting. 

When the committee has reported on the appli- 
cation for a new trial, if for any sufficient reason 
the Lodge shall think it highly probable an act 



OF NEW TRIALS. 125 

of injustice toward the accused may have been 
committed in the trial, or that an error has oc- 
curred by the admission of illegal evidence against 
him, or by the refusal of evidence in his behalf that 
ought to have been received — in other words, that 
it is probable an innocent man has been found 
guilty — then a new trial ought to be granted, and 
proceedings opened for such action as may be 
necessary. 

In many cases, if this course was pursued, much 
time and trouble would be saved to the Grand 
Lodge. 

The right to grant a new trial presupposes the 
right to refuse it, and it ought to be refused when 
it appears that substantial justice has been done. 

From the refusal to grant a new trial an appeal 
lies to the Grand Lodge, just as it lies from the 
original decision of the Lodge. 



126 MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 



CHAPTER XII. 

OF RESTORATION. 

When a brother has been suspended for a defi- 
nite period, or until his dues are paid, he is restored 
to all the rights and privileges of Masonry, and to 
membership in his Lodge ; in the former case on 
the expiration of the time, and in the latter as 
soon as his dues are paid. No vote of the Lodge 
restoring him is necessary in either case, the expi- 
ration of the time and the act of payment of the 
dues bring about the restoration. In these cases 
the Secretary should report to the Lodge the fact 
of the payment of dues or the expiration of the 
time, and the Master should announce that the 
brother is thereby restored to all his rights and 
privileges as a Mason, and an entry to that effect 
ought to be made on the record-book. It is proper 
to remark here that the dues of the suspended 
member to the Lodge cease as soon as he is sus- 
pended, and commence accruing as soon as he is 
restored. 

Eestoration from a state of expulsion can be 
made by the Lodge alone that expelled him, or by 
the Grand Lodge. It is to be considered as an act 
of mercy or pardon to the offender, and is by some 



OF RESTORATION. 127 

called an act of grace, because the Lodge, having 
solemnly expelled him and cut him off from all his 
Masonic rights and privileges, is not bound to 
restore him when desired to do so. It is therefore 
purely an act of grace that the Lodge, when satis- 
fied that he has repented of his unmasonic conduct 
and evidenced it by his reformation, extends its 
clemency toward him. In such a case it is proper 
that the expelled member should petition the 
Lodge, at a stated meeting, in writing, asking 
that he may be restored, and expressing his contri- 
tion for his former conduct. It should be. ordered 
to lie over for one lunar month, and be referred to 
a committee, and treated in every respect as a 
petition for initiation; with this difference, how- 
ever, that all the members of the Lodge not 
present when the application is presented should 
be notified that it has been made and would 
be acted upon at the next monthly stated 
meeting. 

As the sentence of expulsion terminates the 
membership of the offender in the Lodge just as 
much as if he had never been a member of it, so 
when the question of restoration comes up, the 
vote thereon must be by ballot, and entire una- 
nimity is required, just as it' is required in ballot- 
ing on a petition for initiation. If the ballot in 
the Lodge on the restoration of an expelled mem- 
ber be unanimous in favor of it, he is thereby 
restored not only to all his rights and privileges 
as a Mason, but to membership in the Lodge. It 



128' MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE. 

is therefore apparent that no other Lodge than 
that which expelled him can restore him. 

The question may be put, whether the applicant 
shall be restored to all his rights and privileges as 
a Mason, which, if decided in the affirmative unan- 
imously, would render him a non-affiliated Mason ; 
or whether he shall be restored to all his rights 
and privileges as a member of the Lodge, which 
embraces the former, and at the same time places 
him back in the Lodge as a member thereof. 

The Grand Lodge can also restore any expelled 
Mason to all his rights and privileges as a Mason, 
but not to membership in the Lodge that expelled 
him. It may happen that the members of a Lodge, 
or a large number of them, may be perfectly will- 
ing that the expelled Mason may be restored to 
all the rights and privileges of Masonry, but may 
not wish him to be a member of the Lodge. In 
this case the expelled Mason may petition the 
Grand Lodge for restoration, and the members 
of the Lodge may recommend that the prayer 
of the petitioner be granted, and if a proper case 
is made out, the Grand Lodge by resolution can 
restore him, in which case he becomes a non-affil- 
iated Mason. 



APPENDIX. 



DECISIONS. 



It has been thought advisable, even at the risk of being 
charged with repetition, to publish the following decisions, 
most of which have been given to the subordinate Lodges, 
upon questions propounded from time to time, as being gen- 
erally upon matters most frequently arising in their work. 
Some pains have been taken to group them together as much 
as possible under suitable heads. It must be understood that 
they have been made in view of the provisions of the Consti- 
tution of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. 

INITIATION AND MEMBERSHIP. 

Applications for initiation or membership must be made 
to the Lodge nearest the residence of the applicant, except 
in cases where said nearest Lodge, by unanimous vote of the 
members present, shall recommend him to some other Lodge 
for initiation or membership. 

No person can be made a Mason or admitted a member of 
a Lodge until after his petition shall have been presented at 
a regular stated meeting thereof, and laid over for at least 
one lunar month ; and then not until due inquiry has been 
made into his character. 

The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky says : 
" A candidate for initiation must possess no deformity which 

(129) 



130 APPENDIX. 

would prevent him from being perfectly instructed in the 
art and mystery of Freemasonry, and in his turn instructing 
others according to the ancient landmarks.' 7 That is, he 
must not only be physically able to be partially instructed, 
but fully, or perfectly so ; and in addition, he must be able 
to instruct others, not partially, but perfectly. In other 
words, a mere maim or partial defect in body shall not 
incapacitate a candidate; the mutilation must render him 
wholly incompetent to receive and impart instruction. Hence, 
one that has lost an arm, a leg, a foot, or a hand, or who is 
totally blind, deaf, or dumb, or who has been wholly deprived 
of the faculty of feeling, can not be initiated, for the appli- 
cant must be able to acquire and communicate the knowledge 
of Masonry in a Masonic manner. 

A Lodge is not authorized to make — that is, to initiate — 
more than five new brethren at one meeting, and but one 
meeting of the Lodge can be held in one day; nor can a 
Lodge confer more than one degree on a brother on the 
same day, as at least one lunar month must elapse after 
conferring the previous degree, and not then until he shall 
have been examined in open Lodge as to his proficiency in 
the preceding degree, and been proved worthy by the ballot. 

The rule in England is to the same effect. The revised 
code of the ancient constitution, published by the Grand 
Lodge of England, in 1827, says: "No Lodge shall, on any 
pretense, make more than five new brothers in one day, 
unless by dispensation. Nor shall a Lodge be permitted to 
give more than one degree to a brother on the same day. 
Nor shall a higher degree in Masonry be conferred on any 
brother at less interval than one month from his receiving a 
a previous degree, nor until he shall have passed an exami- 
nation in open Lodge in that degree. All Lodges are bound 
to observe the same usages and customs. Every deviation 
therefore from the established mode of working is highly 
improper, and can not be justified or sanctioned." 



DECISIONS. 131 

A petition for initiation, having been presented and re- 
ceived by the Lodge, can not be withdrawn, unless by the 
unanimous consent of all the members present, expressed 
through the ballot-box. The withdrawal can be done at any 
time before a ballot is taken on the petition ; but if the ballot 
be spread it must be proceeded with until a final result is 
obtained. 

A ballot having been taken on an application for initia- 
tion at a regular stated meeting of the Lodge, and resulting 
favorably, the applicant may be initiated at a called or 
special meeting. 

Every member of a Lodge should be agreed in the admis- 
sion by initiation, or for membership, of a person in a Lodge; 
and without such unanimous consent, no admission should 
take place. And no member, guided by the principles of 
Masonry, should desire, much less aid in, the initiation of a 
candidate who was, to his knowledge, not acceptable to one 
or more members. 

A member of a Lodge to which application is made by a 
candidate for initiation has no right, and ought not, to com- 
municate to the applicant, nor to any one else not a Mason, 
objections that have been made to the character or standing 
of the applicant by a member of his Lodge, or a visitor 
thereto. 

The Master of a Lodge has the right to refuse to initiate a 
candidate, notwithstanding his acceptance by the Lodge, if, 
in his judgment, such initiation would be improper. 

After an unfavorable report has been made on an applica- 
tion for initiation or membership, the petition can not be 
withdrawn, unless by the unanimous vote of all the members 
of the Lodge present, taken by the ballot. 



132 APPENDIX. 

A petition for initiation having been presented to a Lodge, 
and a motion made to receive it and refer it to a committee 
for inquiry, and decided in the negative, the decision is final, 
and unless reconsidered is equal to a rejection. The Lodge 
having refused to receive it, there is nothing to refer, report 
upon, or ballot on, for or against. 

Where a petition for initiation had been presented to a 
Lodge, and after its presentation, and before the time 
when it can be properly voted upon, the petitioner removed 
into the jurisdiction of another Lodge in this state, it is 
right and. proper for the Lodge to which the petition was 
presented to act upon it, and initiate, pass, and raise the 
petitioner, without the consent of the one within whose 
jurisdiction he has moved; for the Lodge that first acquired 
the jurisdiction legally shall retain it until the work is fin- 
ished. The ancient charges say: "Both the Master and the 
Wardens, receiving their wages justly, shall be faithful to the 
Lord, and honestly finish their work, whether task or jour- 
ney; nor put the work to task that hath been accustomed to 
journey." The Lodge first acquiring the jurisdiction may, 
however, relinquish it; or, if a degree has been conferred, 
permit the brother to dimit and become a member of the 
Lodge within whose jurisdiction he has removed, which can 
then finish the work thus virtually relinquished. 

But if the petitioner has left the state, and become a citi- 
zen of another state where there is a Grand Lodge, this rule 
does not apply ; for then the Lodge, having lost her jurisdic- 
tion over the petitioner, can not be permitted to initiate him, 
as the right to do so has accrued to another jurisdiction. 

Conferring the degree of Entered Apprentice on an appli- 
cant makes him a member of the Lodge that initiated him, 
unless otherwise provided in the by-laws of the Lodge. 

It is highly improper for a Mason to solicit a person to 
make application to a Lodge for initiation into the mysteries 



DECISIONS. 133 

of Masonry, and such conduct should subject the brother so 
offending to Masonic discipline. It is a violation of one of 
the first principles inculcated in a Lodge, that the covenants 
and duties of Masonry must be voluntarily assumed. As a 
condition precedent to his initiation, the candidate is required 
to declare, upon his honor, and in the presence of witnesses, 
that he approaches the Masonic altar "unbiased by friends," 
and that he "freely and voluntarily offers himself as a can- 
didate." How can he who has been solicited to offer his 
petition say that he is unbiased, and that he does it freely 
and voluntarily? The solicitations of one in whose judg- 
ment we have confidence, respecting a matter of which we 
know and can know nothing, but in which he is well 
informed, must necessarily exercise a powerful influence on 
us. In this case the candidate really acts a lie, and ap- 
proaches the threshold of Masonry with impure motives and 
sullied lips; he is wholly unfit for initiation. Yet persons 
desirous of initiation ought to have some previous knowledge 
of the principles of Masonry. For this purpose, and not to 
exert a bias upon their judgments, it is right and proper to 
furnish them with such books as will give an insight of the 
principles taught by the fraternity and their aims. Thus 
they can judge for themselves respecting the tendency of 
those principles, and determine whether or not they shall 
"freely and voluntarily" offer themselves candidates for the 
mysteries of Masonry. Thus far we can legally go, but no 
further. 

If a visitor to a Lodge is informed that it is about to ini- 
tiate a man whom he knows, or has good reasons to believe, 
is a bad man and unworthy of initiation, it is not only 
his right, but his duty, to interpose an objection thereto. 
But this objection ought to be communicated privately to 
the Master of the Lodge, and thereupon the Master should 
refuse to initiate said applicant until further investigation is 
had. The reason for this is obvious. Every individual 



134 APPENDIX. 

Mason is personally interested that the body of the craft 
should be kept clear from the introduction of bad material, 
because the character and standing of the whole fraternity is 
injured by the initiation of a bad man. The visitor, there- 
fore, has a direct personal interest in the initiation of the 
candidate. Besides, if there was no other reason, this would 
suffice, that every right-minded individual, seeing a Lodge 
about to be imposed upon by the introduction among its 
members of an individual whom he believes, if they were 
informed as to his true character, they would indignantly 
reject, would be failing in his duty if he sat silently by and 
saw such a fraud perpetrated on it. It would be like a man 
sitting quiet when he saw his neighbor ignorantly about to 
permit a marriage to be performed between his daughter and 
an individual who he knew had another wife living. It 
would not only be his duty, but his right, as a good citizen, 
to speak out and prevent the consummation of the crime. 

No application for initiation or membership can be received 
by a Lodge unless the petitioner lives nearer to it than any 
other under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Ken- 
tucky, or brings a unanimous recommendation or consent 
from the Lodge nearest his residence. But in towns or 
cities, where there are more Lodges than one, the petitioner 
may select the one to which he will cause his petition to be 
presented. 

A Lodge may spread the ballot for initiation in the first 
degree or in the third, and for passing in the second or third, 
at its discretion. 

BALLOT AND BALLOTING. 

In balloting, which can only be done at stated meetings, 
if more than one negative appear, the balloting shall cease, 
and the candidate be declared rejected; nor can his applica- 
tion be renewed for less than twelve months. If but one 



DECISIONS. 135 

appears, then a different mode of proceeding is adopted, 
because that one negative may have been deposited through 
mistake. In this case a second balloting shall immediately 
take place, and previous to collecting the ballots the Master 
should caution the brethren to be careful in depositing them, 
so that each may select the ballot of his choice. On this sec- 
ond ballot, if a negative still appears, the candidate shall be 
declared rejected, and no further balloting shall be taken on 
his application for one year, unless by the second stated meet- 
ing thereafter the brother who deposited the negative shall 
voluntarily withdraw his objection in open Lodge. Hence 
it follows, that if by the second stated meeting thereafter the 
brother who deposited the negative ballot withdraws his 
objection in open Lodge, the ballot shall then be resumed, as 
if the previous second balloting had not taken place. And 
if upon again balloting, one or more negative ballots again 
appear, the balloting shall again cease, the candidate be 
declared rejected, and his application can not be renewed in 
less than twelve months thereafter. No reconsideration of 
the ballot can be had if more than one negative ballot 
appears, even though all the members of the Lodge are 
present and desire it. 

Whilst inviolable secrecy should attend the ballot, and no 
one has the right to inquire, nor is it proper to endeavor to 
find out by indirect means, what is the color of the ballot 
deposited by any brother, the motives of each being a ques- 
tion between himself alone and God, yet the abuse of the 
ballot is certainly an offense against Masonry. It follows, 
therefore, that where a brother waived his privilege of 
secrecy, and avowed an unworthy and improper motive for 
balloting against a candidate, he was justly subjected to 
charges for willfully obstructing the work of the Lodge, 
and rightfully expelled. So where a brother declared that 
henceforth he intended to vote against every applicant for 
initiation because one that he proposed was rejected, and 



136 APPENDIX. 

accordingly did so vote in several instances, charges were 
filed against him and he was expelled. 

It is improper to spread the ballot for several candidates 
at the same time. It should be taken on each application 
separately, as every one should stand on his own qualifica- 
tions and merits before the Lodge. 

A separate ballot should be had on each degree, that the 
result of this scrutiny into the mental, moral, and Masonic 
character and standing of the candidate may be made evident 
in the secret manner proper to Masonry. The ballot on 
advancement is not as to proficiency alone, but embraces 
every other requisite qualification in the candidate. 

An unfavorable report of a committee of inquiry on a 
petition for initiation does not reject the candidate; a ballot 
is still necessary, and must be taken in order to dispose of 
the petition. 

JURISDICTION. 

The jurisdiction of a subordinate Lodge extends on all 
sides of it, except where the boundary line of the state inter- 
venes, to a point equally distant from the nearest Lodge; or, 
in other words, it is the geographical center between contig- 
uous Lodges; and within their respective boundaries each 
Lodge has original jurisdiction. 

Each Lodge has penal jurisdiction over all Masons, whether 
unaffiliated or members of other Lodges, within the jurisdic- 
tion of such Lodge, and can try and punish them, if found 
guilty of unmasonic acts, save that where there is more than 
one Lodge in the city or village in which the offense is com- 
mitted by a member of one of said Lodges, such offending 
Mason should be tried by the Lodge to which he belongs. 
This rule is conceived to be right and proper, and is in strict 



DECISIONS. 137 

accordance with the common law of the land. A different 
mode of procedure would in many cases permit the offender 
to go unwhipped of justice. For if a member of a Lodge in 
a distant state, whilst sojourning in this state, is guilty of a 
violation of the Masonic code of morals, and the Lodge 
within whose jurisdiction he is sojourning be required to file 
charges against him before the Lodge of which he is a mem- 
ber, say in Connecticut or Maine, it is obvious that the 
trouble and difficulties attending a trial at such a distance 
from the place where the offense was committed would be so 
great as to deter all attempts to punish him for his offense, 
and he would thus escape, to the great scandal and detriment 
of the craft. 

Brother A. G. Mackey, of South Carolina, in writing on 
this subject, enunciates the doctrine as follows: 

"The personal jurisdiction of a Lodge extends over all 
Masons living within its vicinity. A Master Mason belong- 
ing to a distant Lodge, but residing within the geographical 
jurisdiction of another Lodge, becomes amenable for his 
conduct to the latter as well as to the former Lodge. But 
if his own Lodge be within a reasonable distance, courtesy 
requires that the Lcfdge near which he resides should rather 
make a complaint to his Lodge than itself institute proceed- 
ings against him. But the reputation of the order must not 
be permitted to be endangered, and a case might occur in 
which it would be inexpedient to extend this courtesy, and 
where the Lodge would feel compelled to proceed to the trial 
and punishment of the offender without applying to the 
Lodge. The geographical jurisdiction will, in all cases, 
legalize the proceedings." 

A Grand Lodge has supreme and exclusive jurisdiction 
within its territorial limits over all matters relating to 
ancient craft Masonry. 

12 



138 APPENDIX. 



EXPULSION, SUSPENSION, AND RESTOKATION. 

Indefinite suspension, being in effect the same as expul- 
sion, is not sanctioned by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. 

A brother suspended for a definite period regains his 
membership in the Lodge, and is restored to all the rights 
and privileges of Masonry, at the termination of that period, 
without any action of the Lodge. And if suspended until 
his dues are paid, the payment thereof immediately restores 
him to his former standing and privileges without any action 
of the Lodge. During his suspension no dues accrue against 
the person suspended. 

A contrary course is not only incorrect, but manifestly 
oppressive. The suspended brother is, from the time of his 
suspension, debarred from all the rights and privileges of a 
Mason. He can not visit a Lodge, nor be admitted to Ma- 
sonic intercourse outside of the Lodge with its members. 
If he is sick and in distress, he is not entitled to relief as a 
Mason, and if he dies he can not be buried with Masonic 
honors. It would be, therefore, exceedingly unjust to re- 
quire him to contribute to the funds of an institution that 
has debarred him from any participation in its benefits. His 
dues to the Lodge should cease running as soon as he is sus- 
pended, and commence again as soon as he is reinstated. 

A brother expelled from all the rights and privileges of 
Masonry can only be restored by the unanimous vote of the 
brethren of the Lodge that expelled him, if said Lodge is 
still in existence. If the Lodge has ceased to exist, then the 
Grand Lodge can restore him. When it is desired that such 
sentence of expulsion be removed, a petition in writing to 
that effect, signed, by the person expelled, ought to be pre- 
sented to the Lodge at a stated meeting thereof, and lie over 
for one month, so that the members may have notice of the 
application. As this is in effect an application from the 



DECISIONS. 139 

party expelled to be again admitted to full membership in 
the Lodge, and be thereby restored to all the rights and 
privileges of which, as a punishment, he had been deprived, 
it is right and proper that he should undergo the same ordeal 
that a non-affiliated Mason must undergo who asks for mem- 
bership in a Lodge ; viz. : his petition must lie over one 
month, it must be referred to a committee so that due inquiry 
may be made into his character, and the ballot must be 
unanimous in his favor. 

Suspension or expulsion from a chapter, council, com- 
mandery, or consistory does not affect the Masonic standing 
of the party in a Blue Lodge. But in such cases the Lodge 
ought to appoint a committee to inquire into the cause of 
such suspension or expulsion, and if it be for a violation 
of any of the duties of ancient craft Masonry, then suitable 
charges, with the specifications, should be filed against the 
brother in the Lodge, and he tried thereon. 

A Mason who has been suspended or expelled, and who 
has appealed from that decision to the Grand Lodge, can not 
visit a Lodge whilst his appeal is pending and undetermined. 
His sentence, being unreversed, cuts him off from all the 
rights and privileges of Masonry, and he must so remain 
until his Masonic status is determined by the final action 
of the Grand Lodge on his appeal. 

The Master of a Lodge has no power nor authority, of his 
own will and by virtue of his office, to suspend or expel any 
one from membership in his Lodge, or from the rights and 
privileges of Masonry; and any attempt to exercise such 
supposed power would be illegal, and should subject him to 
degradation from his office. 

A suspended Mason may be charged, tried, and expelled 
for gross unmasonic conduct. 



140 APPENDIX. 

The vote to suspend or expel can be determined by a 
majority of ballots cast by the brethren of the Lodge 
present. 

Masonic intercourse with a clandestine, suspended, or ex- 
pelled Mason is a breach of duty and an offense against 
Masonic law. 

The vote to restore an expelled person must be unanimous. 

CHARGES. 

Charges filed against a brother do not, before trial, render 
him ineligible to office, or suspend him from exercising the 
functions of an office, as he is presumed to be innocent until 
he is found guilty by the Lodge. But, whilst such is the 
law of the case, a brother of any sensitiveness of feeling, 
finding that charges have been preferred against him, will 
waive his right to exercise office in the Lodge until the 
charges are fully heard and determined. 

A brother against whom charges are filed can not be per- 
mitted to testify in his own behalf; nor on the final decision 
of his case shall he be allowed to vote. He has the right 
of having testimony taken in his behalf, and of cross-exam- 
ining the witnesses against him, and he shall be heard before 
the Lodge in his defense. 

In a Masonic trial, the denial of a charge by the accused 
on his Masonic word can not outweigh the unimpeached 
testimony of persons who are not Masons. 

Charges made against a brother on religious or political 
grounds should not be entertained. For as all questions 
arising out of religion or politics are strictly excluded from 
the Lodge, no Mason can be disciplined for any act growing 
out of conflicts arising from either of these subjects. 



DECISIONS. 141 

As an elucidation of this point, we extract the following 
from Morris's Code of Masonic Law, published in 1850: 

"In politics as in religion, there are numerous parties in 
existence in America, each having its theory of national 
government that conflicts with the others and with the 
political code of Masonry. In pursuing a party conclusion 
blows may be struck, and one section of the country arrayed 
against another. But with this Masonry can have nothing 
to do. The ancient charges, compiled in an age of intense 
political despotism, and embracing the Masonic wisdom of 
numberless ages, wherein ^tyranny and despotism ran riot, 
yet carefully trace the line between general obedience to the 
civil power and the right of rebellion against tyranny. They 
assure us that, * though a loyal brotherhood must and ought 
to disown rebellion an/1 give no umbrage or ground of polit- 
ical jealousy to the government for the time being, they can 
not expel him from the Lodge, and his relation to it remains 
indefeasible.' Had Masons indorsed political judgments, 
Washington, "Warren, Lafayette, and Franklin had been 
published expelled; but though a king's eldest son was Grand 
Master, and a king Past Master of the Grand Lodge of Eng- 
land, no such unmasonic act as the one specified was ever 
committed by that conservative and enlightened body." 

It is the right and duty of any member of a Lodge to 
prefer charges against another when aware of his presumed 
guilt. But there are general cases of immoral life and scan- 
dalous conduct where no one brother feels willing, from their 
general character, to make the charges. Such life and con- 
duct should be brought officially to the notice of the Lodge 
by the Junior Warden, as the guardian and supervisor of the 
craft at all times when out of the Lodge, and it is his duty 
to prefer charges whenever he believes the conduct of a 
brother not according to the principles of Masonry. 

The question has been frequently asked whether a non- 
affiliated Mason can file charges against a member of a Lodge 



142 APPENDIX. 

for an alleged Masonic offense, and the right to do so has 
been frequently denied. The ground of objection appears to 
be that by dimitting it is alleged such persons have cut them- 
selves off from all the privileges of the Lodge, and that the 
right to bring a charge against a member of the Lodge is a 
privilege granted only to its members, in order to have their 
grievances redressed by that body. This we look upon as a 
very narrow view of the question. If a Mason, a member 
of a Lodge, has committed an offense that violates the prin- 
ciples of Masonry, the whole body of the craft are injured 
thereby. The offense is not against the Lodge alone of which 
he is a member, but against those grand principles of the 
fraternity that he has outraged by his conduct. The non- 
affiliated Mason, though not a member of any particular 
Lodge, is still an integral portion*of the great Masonic 
family, entitled to all the rights and privileges of Masonry, 
and liable to be disciplined by the Lodge within whose juris- 
diction he resides for any supposed violations of his Masonic 
duty. The facts of the case may be best known to the non- 
affiliated Mason, or there may be an apathy among the 
members of the Lodge, who may not have sufficient infor- 
mation upon which to base charges and specifications. In 
such cases we can not, doubt that a non-affiliated Mason, by 
leave of the Lodge, may file and prosecute charges against 
one of its members. 

An Entered Apprentice or a Fellow-craft can be tried on 
charges the same as a Master Mason. 

Where charges have been preferred against a brother, and 
before trial he is elected to office in his Lodge, he should not 
be installed whilst they remain pending against him and 
undisposed of. 

PAST MASTERS. 

Grand Lodges recognize as entitled to the rank and privi- 
leges of Past Master such only who, having been duly elected 



DECISIONS. 143 

and installed, have served one term as Master of a Lodge 
working under the jurisdiction and authority of some Grand 
Lodge. Keeeiving the degree of Past Master in a chapter 
of Koyal Arch Masons does not of itself qualify such brother 
to fill the chair in a subordinate Lodge, nor is he entitled to 
the rank and privileges of a Past Master in any Grand or 
subordinate Lodge by reason thereof. 

REJECTIONS. 

An applicant rejected for initiation can not renew his 
petition until one year has elapsed. This is the case also 
where a brother has been rejected on his application for 
membership. But a brother rejected on his application to 
be passed or raised can not renew it under three months. 

A brother rejected on his petition for membership is not 
thereby affected in his Masonic standing. He can still visit 
Lodges as before, and is entitled to all the rights and privi- 
leges of Masonry. 

"When an applicant for initiation has been rejected, there 
is an end of the question for twelve months. If, at the end 
of that period, he wishes to renew it, he must do so by a 
petition in the usual form, which should lie over for one 
lunar month, and be referred to a committee of inquiry, just 
as if he had never before that petitioned. Because, in the 
interim, he may have done something that would show the 
Lodge he should still be debarred from initiation. On the 
other hand, it might appear to the committee that injustice 
had been done him in his former rejection. 

LODGES. 

Under the provisions of the Constitution of the Grand 
Lodge of Kentucky, subordinate Lodges must elect their 
officers annually, on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, 



144 APPENDIX. 

which by our calendar is the 27th day of December, except 
when it falls on a Sunday, in which event the election may 
be held on the 26th or 28th of that month, as may be deter- 
mined by the Lodge at the previous stated meeting. These 
officers, when installed, are charged that they are elected for 
the ensuing twelve months, and until their successors are 
duly elected and installed. Consequently, when a vacancy 
occurs in the office of Master or Warden, or indeed in that 
of any elective officer, by reason of death, removal from the 
vicinity of the Lodge, or from any other cause, it can not 
be filled by the Lodge by an election, except at the time 
of the annual election, or by a special appointment by the 
Grand Lodge. If the vacancy occurs in the office of Master, 
that position is to be filled by the Senior Warden, who suc- 
ceeds to the powers, duties, and privileges of the Master. 
If it occurs in the office of Senior or Junior Warden, the 
Master fills the vacant chair by a pro tempore appointment 
from among the members. For the ancient charges say: 
"When a Fellow-craftsman is chosen Warden of the work 
under the Master, he shall be true both to Master and Fel- 
lows; shall carefully oversee the work in the Master's 
absence to the Lord's profit, and his brethren shall obey 
him." If vacancies occur in the offices of both Master and 
Senior Warden, then the Junior Warden acts as Master in 
every respect, succeeding to all his powers, duties, and priv- 
ileges. 

Hence it follows, that if the Master and Wardens are all 
absent from the Lodge, it can not be then opened. Some 
have contended that in such an emergency the oldest Past 
Master of the Lodge who may be present shall act as Master 
for the time being. But this is now regarded as erroneous. 

Another consequence of the above doctrine is, that none 
of the elective officers of a Lodge can dimit from it until 
after their successors are duly elected and installed. If, as 
has already been said in substance, an elective officer moves 
into another jurisdiction, he simply vacates by that act, not 



DECISIONS. 145 

his office, but his chair during his absence, which will be 
filled by the Master by a pro tempore appointment. An 
installed officer, in the installation ceremony, takes upon 
himself the performance of the duties pertaining to his par- 
ticular office, and binds himself to perform those duties until 
his " successor is duly elected and installed." When this 
event happens, then, and then only, is he released from the 
promise which he has voluntarily made. The Lodge can 
only absolve him from this obligation by electing his suc- 
cessor in a legal and constitutional manner, and installing 
him into his office. 

The following propositions in relation to a Lodge are laid 
down as being correct : 

1. No Lodge can be legally organized without a charter 
or warrant granted by a Grand Lodge to a Master, Senior 
and Junior Warden, and their successors in office, author- 
izing them to open and hold a Lodge and work. 

2. The Master and Wardens must be regularly elected and 
duly installed before they can open a Lodge for work. 

3. No Lodge can be legally opened without a Master, 
Senior Warden and Junior Warden in their proper places. 

4. In the absence of the Master, the duties of his office 
devolve upon the Senior Warden, and in his absence on the 
Junior Warden. 

5. In the absence of the Master and Wardens no Lodge 
can be legally opened for work. 

6. No Lodge can be legally opened for work without the 
presence of the charter in view, or to be seen by any brother 
who may choose to call for it. 

7. The Master and Wardens of the Lodge, to whom the 
charter was granted, and their successors in office, duly 
elected and installed as such, are the only proper persons in 
whose possession it can be kept. Consequently a Past Master 
can not legally congregate a Lodge in the absence of the 
Master and Wardens, which implies the absence of the 

13 



146 APPENDIX. 

charter. And for the further reason, that when the newly 
elected Master is duly installed, the former Master returns 
to the position he was in before he was elected Master, with 
the rank and title of Past Master, but with no other author- 
ity than that which is conceded to him from courtesy on 
account of his experience. Indeed, if again elected Master, 
he could not preside until he had been again duly installed. 

A Lodge may surrender its charter to the Grand Lodge, 
and thus terminate its existence. But this can not be done 
so long as there are seven members willing to work under it, 
this constitutional number being requisite to, retain it. To 
ascertain whether or not the charter shall be surrendered, a 
resolution to that effect should be offered at a stated meet- 
ing, and laid over until the next or some subsequent stated 
meeting. Meanwhile every member of the Lodge should be 
notified that said resolution is pending, and the time when 
it will be acted on, so that they may attend if they think 
proper. When the resolution is voted upon, as said before, 
if there be seven members voting against it the charter can 
not be surrendered. 

If the charter of a Lodge is lost, destroyed, or absent from 
the Lodge-room, the Lodge can not be legally opened. If 
lost, the Lodge can not be opened until it is found; if 
destroyed, the same thing happens, and no work can be 
done until a temporary dispensation to proceed with their 
work is granted by the Grand Master, or a new charter, in 
place of the old one, is granted by the Grand Lodge. 

A Lodge newly chartered can not work as a Lodge until 
it is duly constituted and its officers installed. 

Whenever the membership of a Lodge is reduced by death, 
or by any other cause, below the constitutional number of 
seven, it has virtually ceased to exist, and its charter ought 
to be immediately given up to the Grand Lodge. 



DECISIONS. 147 

Dispensations for the formation of new Lodges, by the 
Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, can only be 
granted to non-affiliated Masons. This term we understand 
to mean such as are not members of any active working 
Lodge. So that if the Lodge of which a brother was a 
member has become defunct in fact, by having entirely 
ceased to work, or by having its charter arrested by the 
Grand Lodge, all the members of the Lodge are, to all 
intents and purposes, non-affiliated Masons; but their Lodge 
having suffered a sudden death, they have been unable to 
procure dimits. Such brethren can unite in a petition for a 
new Lodge, which should also state that all the petitioners 
are non-affiliated Master Masons. 

The Master of a Lodge, working under a dispensation, has 
the same rights and powers, when presiding in his Lodge, 
and is entitled to the same respect, as the Master of a char- 
tered Lodge ; and the officers must be regularly installed, 
the same as those of any other Lodge. It may increase its 
membership by affiliation, just as any other Lodge can, and 
it has the same territorial jurisdiction over candidates and 
offenders as if it were chartered. 

At the formation of a new Lodge and setting it to work 
under a dispensation from the Grand Master or Grand Lodge, 
none are to be considered as members of it but those whose 
names are inserted in the dispensation. 

It is one of the privileges of the Master of a Lodge to call 
to his aid and counsel any well-informed brother; and it 
would be proper in him, if he desired it, to request a Master 
Mason to take a seat by him temporarily for counsel and 
advice, although such brother had only received the Past 
Master's degree in a chapter, and had never been Master 
of a Blue Lodge. Such brother may, at his request, also 
occupy the chair and confer degrees, if the Master be present 
and consents. 



148 APPENDIX. 

A brother elected Master of a Lodge can not act as such 
until he has been installed, and this can not be done by 
proxy. He must be personally present, as the duties to be 
assumed by him must be voluntarily entered into. As well 
might a man be initiated by proxy as to be installed into 
office by proxy. 

The practice adopted in some Lodges of resolving them- 
selves into "a committee of the whole" is unmasonic, and 
should not be indulged in. 

No meeting of a Lodge can be called off beyond the day 
and night in which it was opened, and it must be regularly 
closed before the members disperse. 

No Lodge should confer the first section of the first and 
second degrees, and the first and second sections of the third 
degree, upon more than one candidate at the same time. 

The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky does 
not recognize life or honorary membership in subordinate 
Lodges, consequently they are required to pay dues to the 
Grand Lodge on all such, the same as on ordinary members. 

It is not necessary to reinstall an officer of a Lodge elected 
to fill the same office he holds at the time of the election ; 
because such officer was previously elected for the ensuing 
twelve months and until his successor is duly elected and 
installed; and as no man can be successor to himself, when 
re-elected to the same office he simply holds over until the 
election and installation of his successor. 

None are eligible for the office of Master but the present 
Master, Wardens, Past Masters who have been duly elected 
and presided at least one term in a legally constituted Lodge, 



DECISIONS. 149 

and such Master Masons as have been elected and served at 
least one term as Wardens. The ancient charges say: "No 
brother can be . . . Master until he has acted as a "War- 
den." This is the law of the case. But in extreme cases, 
where there is no one among the brethren who comes within 
the rule — as, for instance, at the formation of a new Lodge — 
then the best qualified brother may be chosen Master. 

The Master is absolute in his Lodge, subject, however, to 
the constitution and amenable to the Grand Lodge for the 
manner in which he exercises his authority and manages his 
Lodge. His powers are derived from the ancient charges 
and from the established usages of the fraternity. 

The right of the Master over the records of his Lodge 
does not extend to the erasing or omitting any thing actually 
done in the Lodge and which is proper to be recorded. His 
right extends only to the correction of the record of things 
done, or the omission of matters improper or unnecessary to 
be recorded. It is the duty of the Secretary to record the 
proceedings of the Lodge, under the direction of the Master, 
which shall be read and corrected, if necessary, and when 
approved by the Lodge be signed by the Master ; and such 
proceedings, or a certified copy thereof, shall be submitted to 
the Grand Lodge when required. 

After the minutes of a Lodge have been read, approved, 
and signed by the Master, they can not be altered; and 
whatever is spread upon the minutes may be copied by the 
Secretary and furnished to any member of the Lodge desir- 
ing it. 

No document issued and signed by the Secretary of a Lodge 
is considered authentic unless the seal of the Lodge is affixed 
thereto. Hence, the necessity of every chartered Lodge 
having a seal to be used in the authentication of all doc- 
uments. 



150 APPENDIX. 



DIMIT. 

A dimit, technically considered, is but the written evidence 
granted by a Lodge to the brother named therein that he has 
ceased to be a member of that particular Lodge, and was then 
in good Masonic standing in it. In common Masonic par- 
lance, this written evidence^ of the fact is called a dimit. 
The time when the brother left the Lodge, and not the date 
of the paper, determines his rights and liabilities as a member 
of it. When a brother applies to the Lodge for a dimit and 
it is granted, at that very moment the connection of member- 
ship existing between them is dissolved, and becoming by 
that act what is called non-affiliated, he can not be again 
affiliated by that or any other Lodge, except in the regular 
mode by petition, which must lie over one lunar month, due 
inquiry be made into his character, and a unanimous ballot 
had in his favor. It follows, therefore, that when a dimit 
has been granted to a brother by the Lodge of which he was 
a member, the Lodge can not afterward reconsider the vote 
by which it was granted. 

A dimit can be granted only at a stated meeting of the 
Lodge ; it is highly improper to grant one at a called meet- 
ing. Nor should one be granted to a member under charges 
in the Lodge, or against whom charges are about to be insti- 
tuted. It should be granted only on the personal application 
of the brother asking it, or at his request in writing, signed 
by him. If the dimit has been lost or been destroyed, the 
Secretary of the Lodge, upon being satisfied of the fact, 
should furnish him with another. 

A Mason having dimitted from his Lodge is absolved from 
all obligations to obey its by-laws. But he is not released 
from the performance of those general duties and obligations 
which as a Mason he voluntarily assumed. They continue 
during life, and he can only be released from them when the 
Grand Master of the Universe calls him from time to eternity. 



DECISIONS. 151 

When a Lodge has ceased to exist hy failure to meet, or 
by the arrest or surrender of its charter, the members of said 
Lodge can not of course obtain dimits. All such are there- 
fore really non-affiliated Masons, the term affiliated being 
understood to mean members of some active working Lodge. 
In such cases other Lodges, being fully satisfied of the fact, 
may permit them to become members of their particular 
Lodges. 

It follows, therefore, that a Mason who has removed into 
this state from another, but can not exhibit a dimit from the 
Lodge of which he was a member, which it is alleged is 
defunct, if he has become a citizen of this state in good 
faith, intending to make it his permanent residence, may be 
received a member of a Lodge in this jurisdiction without a 
dimit, if the members of the Lodge are satisfied the Lodge 
he belonged to has ceased to exist. But great caution should 
be exercised in such cases, and the applicant ought to reside 
in this jurisdiction at least a year before his petition is acted 
upon, so that his character and standing may be developed. 

APPEALS. 

If upon the trial of an appeal from the decision of a sub- 
ordinate Lodge, the Grand Lodge should declare the trial 
in the Lodge below irregular and the sentence illegal, the 
accused shall be replaced on his former footing in the Lodge 
in all respects, and be subject to a new trial upon the former 
or new charges. This is upon the ground that the attempted 
trial, being irregular, was no trial at all, and the attempted 
sentence, being therefore illegal, did not in any way affect 
his standing in the Lodge. 

But should the Grand Lodge, on hearing the appeal, 
simply reverse the decision, and restore the accused to all his 
rights and privileges as a Mason, the brother thus restored is 
not thereby replaced in his former membership in the Lodge. 
The reason of this is because the members of the Lodge only 
have the inherent right of choosing who shall be members 



152 APPENDIX. 

of the Lodge, and the Grand Lodge can not force a brother 
into it as a member against its consent. 

On an appeal to the Grand Lodge from the decision of a 
subordinate Lodge, no testimony can be heard except what 
was before the Lodge. If, however, it be made apparent 
that testimony was excluded that ought to have been consid- 
ered, or that the accused offered competent evidence that was 
not admitted, or that illegal testimony was received, the 
Grand Lodge will set aside the decision, and send the case 
back for a new trial, so that, by giving the accused a full and 
fair trial, complete justice may be done. 

No appeal lies from the decision of the Master, or that 
of the Warden occupying the chair in his absence, to the 
Lodge over which he presides. If the decision is supposed 
to be erroneous, an appeal from it may be taken by any 
brother feeling himself aggrieved to the Grand Lodge, which 
will consider and determine it. 

VISITORS. 

A brother wishing to visit a Lodge has a right to see its 
charter before he submits to an examination. 

It is the right of the Master of a Lodge to determine the 
validity of objections to a brother seeking admission as a 
visitor. The right to visit a Lodge is not an absolute inher- 
ent right existing in a Mason. "When he visits a Lodge, it 
is by the permission and courtesy of that body; and if the 
Master thinks that the presence of any visitor will disturb 
the peace and harmony of his Lodge, it is not only his right, 
but his duty, to refuse him admittance. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Masons are forbidden to do any work on Sunday, except 
the solemn service of burying, or paying the last tribute 
of respect to a deceased brother. 



DECISIONS. 153 

None but Master Masons in good standing are entitled to 
be buried with Masonic honors. A suicide should not be 
buried in this manner, unless he was clearly in a state of 
mental alienation at the time. 

A Mason may be charged with and tried for a grave 
offense committed previous to his initiation, the knowledge 
of which was purposely withheld from the Lodge at the 
time of making. 

It is not the business of the Senior Deacon to prepare the 
candidate for initiation. His duties are in the Lodge, one 
of which is to receive him when introduced. The prepara- 
tion should be done by a committee appointed by the Master. 



154 APPENDIX. 



MASONIC FORMS. 



A Petition for Initiation. 

To the Master, Wardens, and Brethren of Lodge 

No. . . . of Free and Accepted Masons: 

The petition of the undersigned, a resident of the State 
of Kentucky, respectfully shows that, having long enter- 
tained a favorable opinion of your ancient and honorable 
institution, he is desirous of being admitted a member 
thereof. He pledges himself to a cheerful obedience to all 
the requirements of the institution. He was born in . . . 

on the .... day of 18 . . His 

avocation is that of His residence is ... .* 

A B 

[Insert the date.] 

Kecommended by 



A Petition for Membership. 

To the Master, Wardens, and Brethren of Lodge 

No. . . . of Free and Accepted Masons: 

The undersigned, a Mason, late a member 

of Lodge No under the jurisdiction 

of the Grand Lodge of and a resident of the 

* If the applicant resides in a city or town, the number of the house and 
the particular street in which he resides should be given, so that inquiry 
touching his character may be made in the immediate neighborhood of his 
residence. 



MASONIC FORMS. 155 

State of Kentucky, respectfully petitions for membership in 
your Lodge. If elected, he pledges himself to a cheerful 
obedience to all the requirements of your by-laws and the 
ancient usages of Masonry. His age is ... . years. His 

avocation is that of a His residence 

is * His dimit from his former Lodge 

accompanies this petition. 

A B 

[Date.] 

[If the applicant can not furnish a dimit, let him give the 
reason for it, as, for instance: The Lodge of which he was 

last a member, to- wit : Lodge No 

having surrendered its charter, or having ceased to exist, or 
having had its charter arrested by the Grand Lodge, he can 
not furnish a dimit, there being no officer authorized to 
grant him one.] 

Form for a Dimit. 

Lodge No. . . . F. and A. M., \ 

. A. D. 18 . . A. L. 58 . . / 

This is to certify that at a stated meeting of 

Lodge No working under the jurisdiction of the 

Grand Lodge of Kentucky, held at their Lodge-room, the 

date above written, Brother 

a Mason, and member of said Lodge, 

having paid all dues and demands against him to the date 
aforesaid, upon his request was permitted to withdraw his 
membership from said Lodge. 

Witness my hand and the seal of said Lodge 
attached, for the day and year above written, 
f Seal of 1 
I the Lodge. ) 

Secretary. 

* See note on preceding page. 



156 APPENDIX. 

Form of a Petition for the Establishment of a 

New Lodge. 

To the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge 

of Kentucky: 

The undersigned petitioners, being Master Masons, not 
members of any regular working Lodge, and residents of the 
State of Kentucky, having the prosperity of the fraternity 
at heart, and being willing to exert their best endeavors to 
promote and diffuse the genuine principles of Masonry, 
respectfully represent, that for the convenience of their 
respective dwellings, they are desirous of forming a new 

Lodge in the town of county of • and 

state aforesaid, to be named Lodge. They there- 
fore pray that a dispensation may be issued empowering 
them to assemble as a legal Lodge, and discharge the duties 
of Freemasonry in a regular and constitutional manner, 
according to the original forms of the fraternity and the 
regulations of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. They have 

nominated and hereby recommend that Brother 

be appointed the Master, Brother Senior War- 
den, and Brother Junior "Warden of said new 

Lodge. If their prayer shall be granted, they promise a 
strict conformity to the constitution, by-laws, and regula- 
tions of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. 

Witness our hands this day of 

A. D. 18 . . A. L. 58 . . 

[If the petition is to be laid before the Grand Lodge when 
in session, it should be addressed to the Grand Lodge instead 
of the Grand Master. It must be signed by seven or more 
Master Masons, and be recommended by the nearest Lodge.] 

Form of a Kecommendation for the Establishment of 
a New Lodge. 

At a stated meeting of Lodge No. . . . 

held at their Lodge-room in this .... day 



MASONIC FORMS. 157 

of A. D. 18 . . A. L. 58 . . the following 

resolutions were adopted : 

Kesolved, That this Lodge recommend the Grand Master 
of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky [or the Grand Lodge of 
Kentucky, as the case may be] to issue a dispensation to the 
brethren named in the foregoing petition to form a new 

Lodge at in the county of to be 

called Lodge, the petition to that effect having 

been laid before and been duly considered by this Lodge. 

Kesolved, That this Lodge certifies that the proposed Mas- 
ter and Wardens of said new Lodge are qualified to do the 
work of Masonry according to the ancient landmarks, and 
that said new Lodge is necessary. 

In testimony that the foregoing is truly extracted from the 

minutes of Lodge No. ... I have 

•{ Seal. \- hereto set my hand as Secretary of said Lodge, 
and attached the seal of said Lodge. 

A .... B ... . 
Secretary of ... . Lodge No. . . 

[Should the proposed new Lodge be located in any city or 
village where there are more than four Lodges established, 
then the consent of a majority of said Lodges shall likewise 
be obtained before a dispensation will be granted for the 
formation of said new Lodge.] 

Form for Minutes or a Lodge. 

At a stated meeting of Forbearance Lodge, No. 365, held 
at their Lodge-room in Komney, Kentucky, this 24th day 
of January, A. D. 1867, A. L. 5867— 

Officers present: William D. Johnson, Master; Gabriel S. 
Leverett, S. Warden; Thomas Williams, J. Warden; Simon 
Newman, Treasurer; Charles McClure, Secretary; Joseph 
H. Simms, S. Deacon; William T. Gardner, J. Deacon; 
John T. Jones, Tyler, P. T. 

[Note. — If the meeting is a called one, then use the word 
called in place of stated. If any of the regularly elected 



158 APPENDIX. 

officers are absent, and their chairs filled by temporary 
appointment, write P. T. [pro tempore) after the offices thus 
filled.] 

Members present: Brothers A. . . . B .... C ... . 
D....E....F....G....H.... etc. 

"Visiting brethren: Brothers Joseph Tompkins, of Charity 
Lodge, No. 279, Kentucky; Thomas C. Jones, late of Te- 
cumseh Lodge, No. 62, New York, and Samuel Sullivan, 
of St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 18, Kentucky. 

The Lodge was then opened in the third degree of Ma- 
sonry, according to ancient form. 

The minutes of the last stated and subsequent called meet- 
ings were read, approved, and signed by the Master. 

[Note. — If the meeting is a called one, the minutes of 
the former meetings need not be read, but the Master should 
explain the object for which it was called, and it should be 
entered on the record, and no other business can be then 
transacted.] 

The petition of Morgan Sevier, praying initiation, was 
read, ordered to lie over for one lunar month, and referred 
to a committee of inquiry, consisting of Brothers Harvey, 
A. W. Simmons, and Monroe. 

The petition of Brother Benjamin A. Johnson, a M. M., 
late of Salem Lodge, No. 163, Indiana, praying membership 
in this Lodge, accompanied by his dimit from said Lodge, 
was read, ordered to lie over one lunar month, and referred 
to a committee of inquiry, consisting of Brothers Cook, 
Edmunds, and J. C. King. 

The committee on the petition for initiation of Jackson 
Thomas reported unfavorably, and the ballot being spread 
on said petition he was rejected. 

The committee on the petition for initiation of Andrew C. 
Trist asked further time to make their report; whereupon 
it was 

Besolved, That said committee be allowed until the next 
stated meeting to report on said petition. 



MASONIC FORMS. 159 

The committee on the petition of Brother Owen Kogers, a 
M. M., late of Perseverance Lodge, No. 187, Missouri, pray- 
ing membership in this Lodge, reported favorably, and the 
ballot being spread on said petition he was duly elected a 
member of this Lodge. 

The committee on the petition of Brother Marcus Bland, a 
M. M., late member of Conway Lodge, No. 189, Tennessee, 
praying membership in this Lodge, reported favorably, but 
as no dimit from Conway Lodge, No. 189, had been fur- 
nished by said Bland, it was, on motion, 

Kesolved, That further action on said petition be post- 
poned until said dimit is produced and filed with the Secre- 
tary of this Lodge. 

The Finance Committee reported that they had examined 
the bills of Johnston & Co. for $6.50, and W. C. Tucker for 
$3, against this Lodge, found them to be correct, and recom- 
mended that the same be paid. 

Kesolved, That the Master draw orders on the Treasurer 
for the amounts of said bills. 

Brother Elijah Westeriield offered the following amend- 
ments to the by-laws, which were ordered to lie over for one 
month, and were referred for consideration to a committee 
consisting of Brothers Westerfield, Patterson, and Wells ; viz.: 

Amend the By-laws in Article I, Section 2, by striking 
out the word "first" and inserting in lieu thereof the word 
u third" so as to make the section read as follows: 

11 Section 2. The stated meetings of this Lodge shall be 
held on the third Monday in each month." 

Amend the By-laws in Article I, Section 3, by striking 
out the word "three," and inserting in lieu thereof the word 
"four" so as to make the section read as follows: 

"Section 3. Each member of this Lodge shall pay a con- 
tribution to the Lodge of four dollars per year, payable 
quarterly." 

The Lodge was then called from labor to refreshment, and 
was afterward opened in the Entered Apprentice's degree. 



160 APPENDIX. 

Mr. Thomas J. Bobbins, who at a former stated meeting 
was duly elected to receive the degree of Entered Appren- 
tice, was introduced, and initiated according to ancient form 
and usage. 

Brother Harvey A. Webb was then examined in open 
Lodge touching his proficiency in this degree. 

The Lodge of Entered Apprentices was then closed in 
ancient form, and a Lodge of Fellow-crafts opened. 

The ballot was then spread on the application of Brother 
Harvey A. Webb to be passed to the degree of a Fellow- 
craft, and he having been duly elected, was introduced, and 
had the said degree conferred on him according to ancient 
form and usage. 

Brother Charles A. Long was examined in open Lodge as 
to his proficiency in this degree. 

The Lodge of Fellow-crafts was then closed in ancient 
form, and the Lodge of Master Masons called from refresh- 
ment to labor. 

The ballot was then spread on the application of Brother 
Charles A. Long to be raised to the sublime degree of a 
Master Mason, and he having been duly elected, was intro- 
duced, and had the Master's degree conferred on him accord- 
ing to ancient form and usage. 

Keceipts since last meeting: 
Of Brother T. J. Bobbins, for initiation, .... $10 00 
Harvey A. Webb, for passing, .... 5 00 
Charles A. Long, for raising, .... 10 00 

Wm. Spackman, on dues, 1 50 

Lucius Wells, " " 2 00 

David S. Bobb, " " 1 50 

Amount received, $30 00 

No further business appearing, the Lodge was then closed 
in peace and harmony at 10J o'clock, P. M. 

Attest: Wm. D. Johfson, Master. 

Charles McClure, Secretary. 



MASONIC FORMS. 161 

Keceived of Charles McClure, Secretary of Forbearanci 
Lodge, No. 365, the above amount of thirty dollars, this 
24th January, 1867. Simon Newman, Treasurer. 

[Note. — Instead of closing the Entered Apprentice's and 
Fellow-craft's Lodges, as provided in the above form, the 
Master, in his discretion, may call them from labor to 
refreshment, and in closing he can close all the Lodges in 
succession, in which case the record must be changed to con- 
form to the facts. 

The Secretary should report to the Lodge before closing, 
and enter on the record a statement of all moneys received 
by him since the last stated meeting, and take the Treasurer's 
receipt therefor in the record-book immediately under the 
proceedings at which it was reported, so that the Finance 
Committee can see at a glance the amount received by the 
Secretary at each meeting, and when paid over to the Treas- 
urer. 

A suitable margin should be left on the side of each page 
in the record in which to make short notes of the action of 
the Lodge at each meeting, which will very materially assist 
any one in looking for the details of any particular transac- 
tion; and, for a similar reason, a blank line should be left 
between the record of each particular act done by the Lodge 
at every meeting. 

Furthermore, the whole record should be kept in a neat 
and business-like manner, free, as far as possible, from blots, 
erasures, interlineations, etc., which always mar the beauty 
of the record ; and the Secretary ought, with a commendable 
pride, to be willing to boast of his work as a model of beauty 
and perspicuity.] 

Chakges and taking Testimony. 

When a charge is about to be preferred against a Mason 
for the commission of an offense against Masonry, the first 
step is to reduce it to writing, accompanied bv such specifi- 
14 



162 APPENDIX. 

cations as, by setting out the time, place, and circumstances, 
will give the accused sufficient notice of the act complained 
of, and enable him to prepare his defense. 

When the offense charged is of a highly criminal nature, 
it is usual to state the charge as "gross unmasonic conduct;" 
when the turpitude is not of so deep a dye, it may be stated 
as " unmasonic conduct." 

The following embrace both grades of offenses : 

COMPLAINT. 

To ilie Master, Wardens, and Brethren of Libanus Lodge, 

No. 262, of Free and Accepted Masons: 

I hereby charge Brother Hiram T. Smith, a Master Mason, 
and member of Libanus Lodge, No. 262, under the jurisdic- 
tion of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, with gross unmasonic 
conduct, viz.: 

Specification 1st. 

That he, the said Hiram T. Smith, on or about the 1st day 
of June, 1867, in the village of Cambridge, County of Wash- 
ington, and State of Kentucky, was intoxicated from the use 
of spirituous and intoxicating liquors, and did then and 
there strike, beat, wound, and bruise his wife, Emily Smith. 

Specification 2d. 

That he, the said Hiram T. Smith, did, on or about the 
1st day of June, 1867, in the village, county, and state afore- 
said, without lawful or Masonic excuse, strike, beat, wound, 
and bruise Brother James M. Dickson, a Master Mason, he, 
the said Smith, then and there knowing said Dickson to be 
such. 

All which was in violation of the duty of said Smith as a, 
Mason, and to the great scandal and disgrace of the fra- 
ternity. Kufus W. Lane, i 

August 5, 1867. Junior Warden of said Lodge. 



MASONIC FORMS. 163 



ANOTHER FORM OF COMPLAINT. 

To the Master, Wardens, and Brethren of Lib anus Lodge, 

No. 262, of Free and Accepted Masons: 

I hereby charge Brother Bobert T. Dexter, a non-affiliated 
Master Mason, now residing in and subject to the jurisdic- 
tion of your Lodge, with unmasonic conduct, viz. : 

Specification. 

That he, the said Kobert T. Dexter, on the 1st day of Jan- 
uary, 1867, and at divers times from that date until the 
present time, in the village of Cambridge, County of Wash- 
ington, and State of Kentucky, was intoxicated from the 
habitual use of spirituous and intoxicating liquors, in viola- 
tion of his duty as a Mason, and to the great scandal and 
disgrace of the fraternity. 

August 5, 1867. W. J. Dawes. 

The above forms can be varied to suit the particular cir- 
cumstances of the case about to be complained of. 

The charge and specifications being prepared and reduced 
to writing, should be presented to the Lodge at a stated 
meeting, and after being received by the Lodge, an order 
should be entered on the record directing the Secretary to 
furnish a copy of them to the accused, and that he be sum- 
moned to appear at the next stated meeting to answer the 
same. 

The following form of a notice and summons will be suffi- 
cient : 

Brother Hiram T. Smith: 

Take notice, that the following is a copy of the charge 
and specifications filed in Libanus Lodge, No. 262, of Tree 
and Accepted Masons, against you, by Brother Kufus W. 
Lane, Junior Warden of said Lodge, at a stated communi- 
cation thereof, held on the 5th day of August, 1867, and you 
are hereby summoned to appear at the next stated meeting 



164 APPENDIX. 

of said Lodge, which will be held on the 2d day of Septem- 
ber, 1867, to answer thereto. 

By order of the Lodge. 

August 7, 1867. Kobert Keed, Secretary. 

[Here insert a true copy of the charge and specifications.] 

A copy of this notice and summons, including the charge 

and specifications, should be served on the accused by the 

Tyler of the Lodge, who should indorse on the back of the 

original notice in substance as follows : 

Executed on the within named Hiram T. Smith, this day, 
by delivering him a true copy of the within notice and sum- 
mons, charge and specifications. 

Charles Parker, 

August 7, 1867. Tyler of Libanus Lodge, No. 262. 

The original notice or summons, with the Tyler's return 
indorsed on it, should be then returned to the Secretary of 
the Lodge, to be filed by him with the papers in the case. 

At the next stated meeting of the Lodge, if the accused is 
present, he should answer in writing to the charge; and his 
answer, if denying it, should be equivalent to a plea of not 
guilty, and the same entered on the record; or he can admit 
one specification and deny the other ; or he can admit and 
set up matters in extenuation or excuse. If, however, he be 
not present, and it, appears by the Tyler's return that the 
summons to appear and the copy of the charge and specifica- 
tions have been served on him, the Master of the Lodge 
should order the Secretary to enter on the record for the 
accused a general plea of not guilty. 

Supposing that he is present, and his answer filed, the 
Master should then appoint a committee of three discreet 
brethren, members of the Lodge, to take the testimony for 
as well as against the accused, and report the same in writing 
to the Lodge. When the committee is named the accused 
may object to any one or more of them if he deems he has 
good grounds to do so. These objections should be made in 



MASONIC FORMS. 165 

writing, and submitted to the consideration of the Master, 
who, after having heard the parties and duly considered the 
matter, if he deems the objections valid, should sustain them, 
and appoint others against whom there are no objections; 
if otherwise, he should overrule them. And all these steps, 
with the objections of the accused, should be regularly en- 
tered on the record. 

The committee being now agreed to, and the issue made 
up, they ought to appoint a time and place when they will 
meet and take the testimony, and of this the accused should 
have reasonable notice in writing. For this purpose the 
Secretary should prepare a notice to the following effect: 

Brother Hiram T. Smith: 

Take notice, that the committee appointed by Libanus 
Lodge, No. 262, of Free and Accepted Masons, to take tes- 
timony for as well as against you on the charge and specifi- 
cations filed against you in said Lodge by the Junior Warden 
thereof, will meet at the hall of said Lodge, in Cambridge, 

on Monday, instant, at 2 o'clock, P. M., for that 

purpose, when and where you can attend. 

Eobeet Keed, 
Secretary c-f said Lodge. 

Dated ...... 1867. 

A copy of this notice should be served on the accused by 
the Tyler, and the original returned to the Secretary, with 
the official indorsement of the Tyler thereon. 

At the time appointed the committee, or a majority of 
them, will meet at the place indicated, and proceed to take 
first the testimony produced by the accuser, and when he is 
through, the testimony in favor of the accused, each party 
having a right to cross-examine the other's witnesses. The 
Secretary ought to attend the committee and write out the 
testimony produced ; if, however, he can not attend, one of 
the committee ought to perform that duty. Master Masons 
will give their evidence upon their honor as such ; all others 



166 APPENDIX. 

must be first sworn before some officer authorized by law to 
administer oaths. 

The committee should make out the testimony in some 
such form as the following : 

Testimony taken before Eobert A. Allen 7 Charles H. 
Clarke, and Lewis Morgan, a committee of Libanus Lodge, 
No. 262, at the hall of said Lodge, this . . . day of . ... 
1867, upon a charge and specifications filed in said Lodge by 
the Junior Warden thereof against Brother Hiram T. Smith, 
a Master Mason and member of said Lodge. 

Present : all the committee ; Eufus W. Lane, Junior War- 
den of said Lodge ; Brother Hiram T. Smith, and his counsel, 
Brother George A.Hamilton; and Eobert Eeed, Secretary 
of said Lodge. 

Brother Edward Fuller, a Master Mason, introduced by 
the Junior Warden, deposed on his honor as a Mason as 
follows : 

[Here insert his testimony.] 

Upon being cross-examined by the counsel for Brother 
Jones, he stated as follows : 

[Here insert his cross-examination.] 

Edward Fuller. 

When his testimony is finished it should be read over to 
him, so that if any part of it has been incorrectly set down 
it may be corrected ; after which the witness should sign it. 
It is not absolutely necessary that the questions propounded 
to the witness should always be put in writing. In nine 
cases out of ten the substance of his testimony can be written 
out in such a manner as to make it quite evident what were 
the questions put. In some few instances, however, it is 
necessary to have the question written out and the answer to 
it given. 

After the prosecutor has produced all his witnesses, then 
the accused will introduce his, in like manner. 



MASONIC FORMS. 167 

If any of the witnesses are sworn, the record should be 
made up to show that fact, viz. : 

Mr. Wm. H. Johnson was then introduced by the pros- 
ecutor, who, having been first duly sworn before Josiah 
Morry, Esq., a justice of the peace for Washington County, 
deposes and states as follows: 

[Here insert his testimony.] 

Wm. H. Johnson. 

If the committee can not get through with all the testi- 
mony in one day, they may adjourn to meet on another day, 
the record being made up to show that fact, viz. : 

The committee then adjourned to meet at the same place 
on Wednesday, . . . day of . . . 1867, at 2 o'clock, P. M. 

Wednesday, . . . day of . . . 1867, the committee met 
pursuant to adjournment. Present: all the members of the 
committee; also, the Junior Warden, and the accused and 
his counsel, with Eobert Reed, Secretary of the Lodge, and 
proceeded to take the testimony, on behalf of the accused, of 
Miss Mary Jones, who, being first duly sworn before Josiah 
Morry, Esq., a justice of the peace for Washington County, 
deposes and says as follows, viz. : 

[Here insert her testimony.] 

Mary Jones. 

The testimony being now all taken, the committee will 
certify the same to the Lodge in substance as follows : 

We, the undersigned, a committee of Libanus Lodge, No. 
262, of Free and Accepted Masons, appointed to take the 
testimony in the case of Brother Hiram T. Smith, against 
whom a charge and specifications were filed by the Junior 
Warden, do hereby certify that the foregoing seventeen 
pages contain the testimony of the witnesses produced to us 
at the time and place named in the caption, and that the 
same was reduced to writing by Robert Reed, the Secretary 
of said Lodge, [or if done by one of the committee, then say 



168 APPENDIX. 

was reduced to writing by Kobert A. Allen, one of the com- 
mittee,] and signed by the witnesses in our presence, and 
that the Junior Warden and the accused and his counsel 
were present at the taking of said testimony. 

Witness our hands this . . . day of . . . 1867. 

Kobert A. Allen, 
Charles H. Clarke, 
Lewis Morgan. 

The witnesses who are not Masons must attend volunta- 
rily, but Masons are bound to obey a summons, which will 
be issued and signed by the Master of the Lodge, as follows : 

Summons for Witnesses. 

To Brothers Edward Fuller , George W. Reardon, and Isaiah 

Jones : 

You and each of you are hereby summoned and required 
to appear before the committee of Libanus Lodge, No. 262, 
of Free and Accepted Masons, appointed to take testimony 
on the charge and specifications filed against Brother Hiram 
T. Smith in said Lodge, on the . . . day of ... . 1867, 
at the hall of said Lodge, in Cambridge, at 2 o'clock, P. M., 
there to testify according to your knowledge. 

Witness my hand. 



Dated 1867. 



Philip J. Perkins, 
Master of said Lodge. 



This should be served upon the persons whose names are 
set out in the summons by the Tyler, or by some other suit- 
able member of the Lodge ,*who should indorse on it in sub- 
stance as follows : 

On this .... day of 1867, I summoned 

the within named persons to appear as witnesses at the time 
and place, and for the purpose, named therein. 

Charles Parker, 
Tyler of Libanus Lodge, No. 262. 



MASONIC FORMS. 169 

It should then he returned to the Secretary of the Lodge, 
to be filed with the papers in the case. 

Every step in the progress of the case should be entered 
on the record, so that, if an appeal be taken to the Grand 
Lodge, the transcript from the record will show every thing 
that was done on the trial. 

Form for a Certificate of Election as Kepresenta- 
tive to the grand lodge, in place of the master 
or Wardens. 

Forbearance Lodge, No. 365. 
At a stated meeting of said Lodge, held at their hall on 
the 17th day of September, A. D. 1867, A. L. 5867; on the 
failure the Master or a Warden of this Lodge to attend the 
next communication of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, 
Brother William T. Gardner, a member of said Lodge, was 
duly elected the representative thereof. 

Witness my hand as Secretary, with the seal of 
L J said Lodge affixed, the date aforesaid. 

Charles McClure. 

Masonic Calendar. 

In affixing dates to official Masonic documents, Masons 
should always use the calendar peculiar to themselves ; the 
common calendar, or era, may also be used in the same in- 
strument. The dates vary in the different branches of the 
Order. 

Masons of the York and French rites date from the cre- 
ation of the world, calling "Anno Lucis," which they abbre- 
viate A.-. L.\, signifying in the year of Light. Thus with 
them the present year is A.-. L.\ 5867. Masons of the York 
rite begin the year on the first day of January ; but in the 
French rite it commences on the first day of March; and 
instead of the months receiving their usual names, they are 
designated numerically, as first, second, third, etc.; thus 
the 1st day of January, 1867, would be stylecf, in a French 
15 



170 APPENDIX. 

Masonic document, the " 1st day of the 11th Masonic month, 
Anno Lucis 5867." The French sometimes, instead of the 
initials A.*. L.\, use "L'an de la V.\ L.\," or "Vrai 
Lumiere;" that is " Year of True Light." 

Koyal Arch Masons commence their era with the year in 
which Zerubhabel began to build the second temple, which 
was 530 years before Christ. Their style for the year 1867 
is therefore A.*. Inv.\; that is, Anno Inventionis, or in the 
year of the Discovery, 2397. 

Koyal and Select Masters very often make use of the com- 
mon Masonic date, Anno Lucis ; but more properly they 
should date from the year in which Solomon's Temple was 
completed ; and their style would be Anno Depositionis, or 
in the year of the Deposit, abbreviated A.-. Dep.\ ; and 
they would date the year 1867 as 2867. 

Knights Templar use the era of the organization of their 
order, in 1118. Their style for the present year of 1867 
is A.-. 0.\, Anno Ordinis, or in the year of the Order, 749. 

Rules for Discerning the Different Dates. 

1. To find the Ancient Craft, add 4000 to the common 
era; thus 1867 and 4000 are 5867. 

2. To find the date of Royal Arch Masonry, add 530 to 
the common era; thus 1867 and 530 are 2397. 

3. To find the Royal and Select Master's date, add 1000 
to the common era; thus 1867 and 1000 are 2867. 

4. To find the Knights Templar's date, subtract 1118 
from the common era; thus 1118 from 1867 leaves 749. 

The following tame shows, in one view, the date of the 
present year in all the branches of the Order : 

Year of the Lord, A. D. 1867, the Common Era. 

Year of Light, A.'. L.\ 5867, Ancient Craft Masonry. 

Year of the Discovery, A.\ I.*. 2397, Royal Arch Masonry. 
Year of the Deposit, A.'. Dep.\ 2867, Royal and Select Masters. 
Year of the Order, A. \ O. \ 749, Knights Templar. 



INDEX. 



Advancement, right of __89 

in what degree ballot for to be spread 134 

proficiency in preceding degree required 89 

ballot for 52, 136 

result of rejection on 52 

Affiliation 52 

Ancient charges 13 

landmarks defined 5, 6 

manuscript, fifteen articles from 9 

fifteen points from • 11 

Appeal, right of 61, 122 

from decision of the Master 61, 149 

of the Lodge 122, 125, 139, 151 

how taken 122 

no testimony can be heard on, except what was before the Lodge... 152 
if error appears on the trial of the appeal, a new trial will be ordered. 152 

Appendix 129 

Appointed officers of the Lodge 63, 74, 75 

Apprentices, Entered 89 

their rights 89 

may be tried for offenses 89 

Approbation of G-rand Lodge to this work 2 

Articles, the thirty-nine, (general regulations) 23 

Atheists can not testify in aMasonic trial 118 

Avouchment, right of 91 

Ballot and Balloting 50 

must be unanimous 50, 53 

when it may be taken 50 

all present must vote, except excused 50 

must be secret and inviolable 8, 50, 135 

can not be postponed when commenced 52 

no reconsideration of it 51 

mnst betaken for affiliation 52 

and for each degree 52, 136 

decisions respecting .€ 134 

in what degree may be taken 134 

rules governing it 134 

abuse of the blackball aMasonic offense 135 

can not be taken for several candidates at once 136 

for advancement is not solely on proficiency 136 

unfavorable report made, ballot must still be taken 136 

Belief in the existence of God a landmark 6 

Burial, Masonic, none but Master Masons entitled to it 95, 153 

is the only work that may be performed on Sundays 152 

no suicide to be buried with, unless the act was done under mental 
alienation : 153 

(171) 



172 INDEX. 

Calendar, Masonic 169 

Called or special meetings 109 

Candidates for initiation 45 

qualifications of 45 

must be residents of the state 45 

regulations respecting deformity of 129 

petition of must be presented to nearest Lodge 46, 129, 134 

and lie over one month for inquiry 129 

how it may be withdrawn 131 

vote must be unanimous in favor of it 131 

Master may refuse to initiate, though Lodge elected him 131 

if rejected, can not again apply for one year 51, 52 

when he may be initiated 131 

not more than five can be initiated at one meeting 130 

objections made to, must be kept secret 131 

refusal to receive petition of, equal to a rejection 132 

petition of presented, he removes to another county — Lodge may 

still act on it and confer the degrees 132 

not so, if petitioner has removed to another state 132 

initiation makes him a member of the Lodge 132 

highly unmasonic to solicit a profane to become a Mason 132 

duty of visitor to make known objections to 133 

in what degree ballot for may be spread 134 

advancement of candidate 89 

if rejected for advancement, can not apply again for three months. 143 

if rejected for initiation, can not apply again for one year 143 

and then by petition, which must again lie over and take same 

course as if he had never petitioned 143 

{See Initiation.) 

Censure, a Masonic punishment Ill 

Charges of a Freemason 13 

Charges for Masonic offenses, form of 161 

how presented and who by 115, 116, 141 

for political or religious causes not to be entertained 141 

do not before trial render a brother ineligible to office 140 

he is presumed to be innocent until found guilty 140 

one charged with offense can not testify in his own behalf 140 

his denial on his Masonic word can not outweigh unimpeached 

testimony of profanes 140 

may be filed for offense committed before initiation and purposely 

concealed 153 

Charter of a Lodge unlimited in duration 59 

how it may be forfeited 59 

how surrendered 59, 146 

but not if seven members are willing to work under it 146 

if lost or destroyed, Lodge can not be opened 146 

temporary dispensation may be granted by Grand Master 146 

may be suspended or arrested 59, 60 

Civil law to be obeyed by Masons 7 

Clothing at Masonic burials 95 

Committees, how appointed 106 

Competency of witnesses 117 

Constitutions, Masonic, defined 5, 6 

Deacons of a Lodge, how appointed 63 

their duties 74, 75 

Decisions, Masonic 129 

Ballot and balloting 134 

Charges 140 



INDEX. 173 

Dimit 150 

Expulsions 138 

Initiation 129 

Jurisdiction 136 

Lodges 143 

Membership 129 

Past Masters 142 

Rejections 143 

Restoration 138 

Suspensions 138 

Deformity in candidates 129 

Dimission, what it is 93 

right of 93 

form of 155 

Dimit, what it is 150 

elected officers of a Lodge cannot dimit 144 

when to be granted 150 

form of 155 

not to one under charges, or about to be charged 150 

if lost or destroyed, duplicate may be issued 150 

dissolves the connection between the party and the Lodge 150 

in cases of members of defunct Lodges 151 

Discussion in Lodges, how controlled 98 

Dispensations for new Lodges, who granted by 57 

when they expire 57 

may be continued 58 

Duties of the Master 64 

Wardens 69, 70 

Treasurer 71 

Secretary 72 

Deacons 74, 75 

Steward and Tyler 75 

Elections of officers, when to beheld 59, 143 

Entered Apprentices 89 

their rights 89 

may be tried for offenses 89 

Evidence on Masonic trials 117 

who may be witnesses 118 

form of taking it 166 

Examination of visitors 91 

Expelled Masons can not testify 118 

not entitled to relief 93, 114 

Expulsion, what it is 113 

vote on required 140 

the Lodge that expelled, if in existence, is the one to restore 138 

vote to restore must be unanimous 138 

if the Lodge has ceased to exist, the Grand Lodge can restore 138 

what steps to take to obtain restoration 138 

from Chapters does not affect standing in Blue Lodge 139 

in such cases the Lodge ought to inquire into the causes 139 

an appeal to Grand Lodge does not permit the party to visit 139 

Master of the Lodge has no power to expel 139 

Masonic intercourse with expelled person a Masonic offense 140 

Fellow-crafts, their rights 89 

may be tried for Masonic offense 89 

Freeborn, candidates for initiation must be 7 

Forms, various Masonic 154 

Funds of the Lodge to be held as sacred 71 



174 INDEX. 

General regulations adopted in 1721 23 

Grand Lodges, modern, origin of 54 

Grand Master, prerogatives of 8 

Historical sketch 78 

Honorary membership not recognized by the Grand Lodge 148 

Inherent powers of a Lodge 61 

Initiation, qualifications of candidates for 45, 46 

decisions respecting 129 

petition for, form of 154 

applications for to be made to nearest Lodge 129, 134 

must lie over one month for inquiry 129 

deformity of candidates for 129 

not more than five candidates can be initiated at one meeting 130 

petition for, how it may be withdrawn 131 

when an applicant for may be initiated 131 

vote for must be unanimous 131 

objections to an applicant must be kept secret from him 131 

.Master may refuse to initiate after Lodge has elected 131 

refusal to receive petition for, equal to a rejection 132 

petition for presented, candidate removes to another county, the 

Lodge may act on it and confer the degrees 132 

not so. it' petitioner lias removed to another state 132 

initiation of candidate makes him a member of the Lodge 7, 132 

highly unmasonic to solicit one to become a Mason 132 

visitors should make known objections to candidate 133 

in what degree the ballot for initiation may be spread 134 

Installation of officers of Lodge 63 

when to take place 63 

can not be done by proxy 148 

Jurisdiction of a Lodge, geographical 46, 60, 132, 136 

penal 61, 123, 136 

of Grand Lodge 137 

Junior Deacon, his duties 75 

Junior Warden, his powers, prerogatives, and duties 70 

Landmarks, ancient, what they are 5, 6 

any removal of void 6 

Law. Masonic, what it is 5 

foundations of.. 5, 9 

Law, Parliamentary 100 

Laws relating to candidates for initiation 45 

Legislative rules of order 99 

Lodge, Masonic, what it is 15, 54 

under dispensation, how formed 55 

petition for, what it must state 56 

form of a petition for new 156 

must be recommended by nearest Lodge 56 

form of the recommendation 156 

commission to install officers and set Lodge to work 57 

powers of Lodges U. D 58, 147 

chartered . 55, 59 

powers of 59, 60, 61 

officers of 63 

when to be elected and installed 63, 143 

if no election, former officers hold over 144 

can not try its Master 8, 68 



INDEX. 175 

jurisdiction of 46, 61 

funds of 71, 74 

meetings of 96 

decisions respecting 143 

vacancy in the offices of Master or Wardens, how filled 144 

if three principal officers absent, can not be opened 144 

no elected officer can resign or dimit until his successor is duly 

elected and installed 144 

what is necessary to constitute a legal Lodge 145 

Past Master can not open it in absence of three principal officers... 145 

how charter of may be surrendered 140 

but not if seven members are willing to work under it 146 

mode of proceeding to surrender charter 146 

charter of lost or destroyed, Lodge can not be opened 146 

temporary dispensation for may be granted by Grand Master 146 

newly chartered Lodge can not work until officers are installed 146 

reduction of membership below seven is death to the Lodge 146 

dispensation for new Lodge can be granted only to non-affiliated 

Masons 147 

what amounts to non-affiliation , 147 

Master of Lodge U. D. same powers as Master of chartered Lodge.. 147 
none are members of a Lodge U. D. about to be organized but 

those named in dispensation 147 

Master of a Lodge may call to his aid any well-informed brother 147 

can not act as such until he is installed 148 

no officer can be installed by proxy 148 

Lodge can not go into committee of the whole 148 

duration of the meetings of the Lodge 148 

what sections of degrees can be conferred on more than one 

candidate at the same time 148 

life or honorary members of, not recognized by the Grand Lodge.... 148 

an officer re-elected to the same office need not be re-instailed 148 

who are eligible to be elected Master 148 

Master absolute in his Lodge, subject to appeal to Grand Lodge 149 

power of the Master of over the records of the Lodge 149 

records of can not be altered after being approved and signed 149 

seal of, should be affixed to all documents issued by Lodge 149 

Masonic burial, who entitled to it 153 

is the only work that may be performed on Sundays 152 

no suicide to be buried with, unless the act was committed under 

mental alienation 153 

Masonic calendar 169 

Masonic forms, various 154 

Masonic law, what it is 5 

what are offenses against 110 

Masonic trials, how to be conducted 115 

Masonic punishments, what they are Ill 

Master Masons, rights and privileges of 89 

Master of the Lodge, his powers and prerogatives.. 7, 8, 64, 65, 68, 97, 98, 147 

may call to his aid any well-informed brother 147 

can not act until installed , 148 

re-elected to same office need not be re-installed 148 

who are eligible to the office of Master 148 

absolute in his Lodge, subject to appeal to Grand Lodge 149 

his power over records of the Lodge 149 

Meetings of the Lodge, stated 96 

called or special 96, 109 

duration of 148 



176 INDEX. 

Members of the Lodge, historical sketch 78 

honorary and life not recognized by Grand Lodge 148 

Membership, decisions respecting 129 

Minutes of the Lodge * 149 

power of Master over the 149 

form of 157 

Modes of recognition a landmark 7 

Moral lawthe rule of Masons 110 

offenses against 110 

New trials, when to be granted 124 

Non-affiliated Masons 93 

their disabilities 95 

subject to charges and trials 61, 136 

their right to appeal 122 

dispensations for new Lodges granted only to non-affiliated Masons 56 
members of defunct Lodges are in fact non-affiliated 151 

Objection to candidate being initiated, right of 53 

Offenses against Masonry, what are 110 

Officers of a Lodge 63 

when to be elected and installed 63, 143 

if no election, former officers hold over 144 

vacancy in the offices of Master or Wardens, how filled 144 

no elected officer can resign or dimit until his successor is duly 

elected and installed 144 

no officer can be installed by proxy 148 

if re-elected to same office, need not be installed 148 

who are eligible to the office of Master 148 

Order of business in the Lodge 97 

under control of the Master 65, 97, 99 

rules of 99 

Origin of modern Grand Lodges 54 

Parliamentary usages 103 

Past Masters, their privileges 76 

right to sit and vote in Grand Lodge 77 

who are recognized as such by Grand Lodge 77, 142 

can not open a Lodge in the absence of Master and Wardens 145 

Penal code of Masonry.... 110 

Petitions for initiation, form of 154 

when to be presented 48 

must lie over one month for inquiry 48, 129 

when it may be withdrawn and how. 49, 131 

if rejected, can not apply again for one year 51, 143 

and then by a new petition, which takes same course as 

former one 143 

in what degree may be balloted on 134 

for membership 52, 143 

form of 154 

if rejected, can not apply again for one year 52, 143 

and then by new petition, which takes the same course as 

former one 143 

rejection does not affect Masonic standing 143 

for new Lodge must be signed only by non-affiliated Masons 56, 147 

what it must state 56 

form of petition 156 

must be recommended by nearest Lodge 56 

form of recommendation for 156 



INDEX. 177 

Physical qualifications of candidates for initiation 7. 139 

Powers of a chartered Lodge ;,:i. 60 

of a Lodge under dispensation >. J 17 

of the Muster of the Lodge 7, 8, 64, 65, 68, 

of the Wardens ;. 69 

Political offenders 110 

Punishments, Masonic. 111. 122 

Qualifications of candidates for initiation 45, 46 

of the Master of the Lodge 64 

Recognition, modes of, a landmark 7 

Eecords of the Lodge, Secretaiy's duty respecting them 72 

for what purpose under control of the Master 149 

can not be altered after being approved and signed 149 

form of 157 

Regulations, general, of 1721 23 

Rejected applicants for initiation or membership can not apply again 

for one year 51, 52 

for advancement can not apply again for three months 143 

rejected for membership does not affect Masonic standing 143 

Religious offenses not cognizable by the Lodge , 110 

Representatives to the Grand Lodge, who are 67 

may be instructed by the Lodge 8 

Reprimand a Masonic punishment 112 

Restoration, what it is 126 

a person suspended for a definite time is restored when time runs 

out 126, 138 

for non-payment of dues, is restored by paying them 126, 138 

one expelled can only be restored by the Lodge that expelled him, 

if in existence 138 

if the Lodge has ceased to exist, then by the Grand Lodge 138 

what steps to be taken by one desirous of being restored 127, 138 

his application must lie over one month 127, 139 

be referred to a committee of inquiry 127, 139 

and the ballot in favor of restoring him must be unanimous 127, 140 

Secretary of the Lodge, his duties 72 

Senior Deacon, his duties 74 

not his duty to prepare candidates 153 

Senior Warden, his powers, duties, and privileges 69 

Steward and Tyler, their duties 75 

Sources of Masonic law, what they are 5, 9 

Special or called meetings of the Lodge.... 109 

Subordinate Lodges 54 

Summons, form of 168 

Suspension a Masonic punishment 112 

indefinite not allowed 138 

definite expires when the time has elapsed 112, 138 

until dues are paid, expires on the payment 112, 138 

dues do not accrue during the suspension 138 

vote required to inflict it. 140 

suspended Mason not entitled to relief 93, 114 

from Chapter, etc., does not affect the Masonic standing of a Blue 

Lodge Mason 139 

in such case the Lodge ought to inquire into the cause and act 

accordingly 139 

a suspended Mason, appealing to the Grand Lodge, can not visit 
while appeal is pending 139 

16 



\ 



178 INDEX. 

Master of a Lodge has no power to expel by virtue of his office 139 

one suspended may be tried and expelled during his suspension 139 

question of suspension determined by majority vote 140 

Masonic intercourse with suspended Masons a Masonic offense 140 

Thirty-nine articles, or general regulations 23 

Treasurer of the Lodge, his duties 71 

Trials, Masonic 115 

new, when to be granted , 124 

appeals from to Grand Lodge 122, 125, 139 

Tyler's oath, how administered ~ 91 

Tyler's duties 75 

Unfinished work 132 

Unwritten law, what it is 5 

Visit, right to, not absolute 8, 67, 90 

Visitors under control of the Master of the Lodge 67 

vouched for 91 

validity of objection to may be determined by the Master 152 

examination of 91 

duty of in regard to candidates 133 

have a right to examine charter of the Lodge 152 

Wardens of the Lodge, prerogatives of 7, 69, 70 

can not resign or dimit until successor is duly elected and installed.. 144 

Witnesses, competency of 117 

who may be 117 

Work, unfinished 132 

Written law, what it consists of 5 







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